Barks and Bytes: A Sonic Boom Story
by Moissan
Summary: Long ago, Tails has been working part-time on a game with some old friends. As he gets obsessed with fixing it when a cyberbully and Eggman creates a malware to infect it. Unfortunately, this also meant putting aside his other tasks, like spending time with Zooey and playing with Dude-itude at the concert. Eventually, it's up to Tails to fix all his situations before it's too late.
1. How It All Started

Tails, the two-tailed fox, here. One day, we've been experiencing technical difficulties with our computers, and we stood by. This day (or so) was a story about how a special malware, disguising itself as a computer boosting software, destroyed everyone's PC games, especially what my crew and I had developed. No, I'm not referring to Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, and Sticks the Jungle Badger, but rather another team consisting of some old friends of mine who I took to school. Anyway, we were then forced to play a blatant rip-off of our game, cruder than oil.

But before this incident had happened, it all started when my bandaged friends were simply playing volleyball, like in any other day in Bygone Island, just without me.

"Hey, Knuckles!" yelled Sonic, jumping before serving the ball. "Heads up!"

In response, the big red echidna hit the ball, literally using his head. "Good thing I have a hard head!" he moaned with his eyes rolling.

After watching the ball fly away, an unamused Amy replied, "How realistic, Knuckles. You must have sacrificed brain volume for a thicker skull."

He rubbed his head. "It's a double-edged sword, a curse and a blessing."

Sometime later, I got out of my workshop and visited my friends during their game. Bringing my laptop, I wanted to show them my game I've downloaded, mainly because Sonic and Knuckles are known for their Couch Potato Saturdays, where they spend hours playing video games. "Hey, guys! Check out this game! Some other friends and I developed it for quite some time!"

Sonic scoffed, "Look, if this is another educational or puzzle game you made or bought, like the last five you showed us, we're still not interested."

Yep. I remember showing all of those games like Brain World, 4096, Sevens, which inspired 4096, Construct-a-Chain, and of course, Too Wrong to Be Right (a critical thinking game), all in one day. At the post office:

 _"Check out Brain World!"_ I exclaimed, showing up with my laptop. _"Doesn't this look like a cool game?"_

 _"Pfft, not interested,"_ replied the blue hedgehog, holding a pink envelope.

At Meh Burger, where we normally eat lunch:

 _"Check out 4096!"_ I exclaimed, showing up with my laptop again. _"_ _Maybe this one looks like a cool game?"_

 _"Once again, not interested,"_ replied the blue hedgehog, scarfing a chili dog.

At the library:

 _"Check out Sevens,"_ I whispered, showing up with my laptop for the third time. _"50 million users bought it for a reason!"_

 _"Shh-h-h!"_ shushed Amy, while reading a novel.

At Fennec Shopkeeper's market:

 _"Construct-a-Chain has received very positive reviews!"_ I exclaimed, showing up with my laptop for the fourth time, which resulted in my gang frowning even harder.

 _"Twice again, not interested,"_ groaned Sonic.

 _"What kind of pinball moves in a path by itself!?"_ shrieked a frightened Sticks. _"Do aliens make them?"_

 _"No,"_ I answered.

At the DangerCo. Deadly Equipment Warehouse:

 _"...Too Wrong to Be Right?"_ I suggested nervously, grinding my teeth and holding my cell phone.

My friends were really, really annoyed on that time. _"TAILS! Stop it already!"_

 _"I'm always too wrong to be right,"_ muttered Knuckles, crossing his arms.

That's when I realized: those games were specialized ONLY for me. So how could I have been so obtuse? I should've respected others' tastes. Now, aside from the flashback...

"Don't worry, I think you'll really enjoy this one! No traditional puzzles or lessons. It's called Blades of the Rebellion, a platformer with innovative action, role-playing, exploration, and most of all, speed!"

Sonic looked more surprised, in a good way. "Speed? Now, that follows my style!

Knuckles flexed his arm muscles and punched the air. "Action, like punching 'till you drop, is what I do best!"

"I do enjoy RPGs," Amy pointed out. "Maybe because I love stories."

"Exploration is how I discover new kinds of species," added Sticks. "And survive."

Then, I showed them the trailer, starting off with the plot synopses.

 _"Once upon a time, there were five humble kingdoms living in harmony. Each have brought many ways to maintain peace including alliances and sharing their unique strengths. That was until one day, an ancient demon rose from the underworld and discovered the concept of technology. With this kind of power, he developed his own bionics to make himself stronger and create a new cyborg army. On the following week, he conquered all five kingdoms and planned to wipe out all of current civilization, to make room for a new, ghastly bionic world. Heroes have sacrificed themselves, and many of the innocent lost their homes and kneeled before the half-robot monsters. But not all hope was lost; one day, there were five teenage warriors, each from a different kingdom, who found themselves in an ancient cave after escaping. Knowing that their world is in danger, they must train themselves and work together to find all eight Crystals of Truth to form a new power to defeat the empowered demon once and for all."_

With the background music as pop punk, the playable characters were main protagonist was a young king cheetah ninja whose name was Scion, according to the announcer. He had thick, tungsten-colored fur with trodden black blotchy spots, with some spiky areas on his head and back, beige bandages on his arms and legs, and a blue tattered scarf. He also used a katana as a weapon. Additionally, as the fastest in the team, his moveset emphasized speed and spacing; it consisted of quick slicing and jabs with the tip of his sword dealing the most damage.

Second came Amoroso, the sweet-but-tough pink gold-furred wolfdog knight, who wore a thin pigtail, developed armor and hexagonal bracelets on her wrists, and welded a thick longsword with a pink fuller and yellow blade. Her moveset was based on balance and versatility as she had average stats, though he had some unique abilities like spin-jumping with her sword.

Then, there was the hardcore leader, Nucleus the Noble, a gold-colored viking "grolar" bear who wore a horned gold helmet and a tattered blue plaid kilt. As the "strongest of the bunch," he held a massive, red, bandaged spiky flail with a battle axe on its other end. Due to his slow movement, he relied mainly on extreme strength (axe-flail combos complemented this trait) and defense (invincibility frames, anyone?), as well as his superior swimming skills.

Next came the clever and wise-cracking Bonnie Bones, who was a cobalt blue, eyepatch-wearing pirate capuchin who enjoyed going to new areas. Gameplay-wise, she relied on range and zoning, like shooting with her bazookas and throwing a bone-like boomerang to capture objects, though her cutlass had the least reach.

And last, but not least, there was the intelligent and wise Horns, the hooded white metal-colored/albino and red-eyed horned (hence the name) owl, who relied not on a sharp weapon, but rather sorcery as well as his keen senses. In detail, he focused on a mix of powerful magic and aerial combat, like vanishing dodges, a fire-enhanced barrel roll or an electrified shuttle loop.

But if there was one thing everyone had in common, it was super speed, vital for getting through platforms in record time.

After their introduction, the five warriors were seen going through various platforms until their battle a boss named Robogre, who resembled a giant cyborg ogre. Scion immediately charged to the beast to strike him with the tip of his sword, but after that, Robogre unleashed a sonic roar to knock him down. Bonnie took over the kid cheetah's place and used her trusty gun to shoot seeds at the ogre. Likewise, the monkey was victimized by the beast's shockwave stomps and closed her eyes while taking damage. Then, Amoroso showed up and jumped from Robogre's foot to his head which she impaled with her yellow and pink blade. She had given him a great deal of damage, but the cyborg ogre shaked his head, causing her to fall down, though she didn't receive damage. Eventually, Horns and Nucleus came to the rescue; the grolar bear kept the monster busy and defended himself with his spiky gauntlets whereas the owl was coordinating his attacks, from a quiet invisible glide to a downwards hurricane headbomb right in the beast's head, knocking him off. After Robogre was defeated, Horns magically healed the team with an aura, and he and they gave fives. Last, the trailer ended with the logo of Blades of the Rebellion.

"Liking the visuals," complemented Sonic with a thumbs up. "Who doesn't enjoy whatever looks hand-drawn with colored pencils and watercolors by an A-OK drawer?"

Amy added, "The backgrounds look highly vibrant, but not so colorful that they exhaust the player. They also look culturally diverse, and especially surreal, like in Alice in Wonderland."

After the trailer, we went home where I set up our television, connected it with a console with an advance copy of my game inside, brought one controller, and that's when we started playing. And boy did my friends have a lot of fun, despite the story mode being only single-player.

Sonic, as the first one to play, held right on the joystick. "That Scion, look at him go, running through loop after forest!"

"Don't go too fast, because you'll miss out those treasures if you do!" advised Sticks, pointing at one of the blue chests at a platform above the playable character.

"Who needs collectables when a blow in the face is refreshing enough?"

"So when do we get our turn?" asked Knuckles.

"After Sonic completes his level," I answered. "Also, you can swap characters in-game, though you have to wait until thirty seconds before Scion can be played again."

"Eh, fair enough."

At the end of the blue blur's turn, his character lost a life when falling into a poisoned-water lake when forgetting to jump. "Oh, dang, that's no good!"

"Always watch where you're going, Sonic!" suggested Amy. "Think about it, what would happen if you were speeding in a car in real life?"

"I only drove a car once!"

"My turn!" The big red echidna snatched the controller from Sonic and pressed "up" with the D-pad, replacing Scion with Nucleus. "Time to SMASH!" Indeed did he begin mashing buttons, in which in the game, the hybrid bear knocked over every enemy in sight, making a 20-kill combo and and gaining enough experience points level up. "Unlike Sonic, I don't chuckle."

When Amy got her turn, she played as Amoroso in the hub world, a lavish castle, where she found some doors to play some special stages.

"Let's see here, training stages, a pinball-like game, a 3D endless running game, and so on. The training stages are the only ones more true to the core gameplay, however, so I'll settle with those...until we unlock the rest, of course."


	2. Some Fame to Blame

By the time it was Saturday, my team's game, as in the one my old team made, was released, and initial reactions were...well, pretty good- No, wait a minute, very good- No, outstanding! In fact, villagers were screaming for my game and waving money while waiting in a rather long line at the only game store in Village Center.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said the game store manager. "may I present to you-"

"Shut up and take my cash!" yelled Belinda, a slim brown goat.

He sighed, "...Blades of the Rebellion. _Talk about hype. Sheesh..._ "

"When I showed up, I began to wonder how my company's game managed to build up so much anticipation in the first place, considering how we originally intended it to be a small, zero-budget, non-profit game, more than a year ago. Eh, expect the unexpected...

Perci, a purple bandicoot, pointed at me outside the line. "Hey, look who we have here: It's the director of that game we've anticipated, for quite some time!"

Everyone cheered at me.

"Hope you had fun riding the hype train!" I replied with considerable pride. "You're going to love all the effort we put into our first public game we're releasing!"

A fan brought a notebook and a pen. "Say, how about an autograph?"

"Maybe once you purchase one of the copies for me to me sign."

"Fair enough!"

While the store was bombarded with customers, the game manager took me inside and gave me a stand where I would autograph the copies. "I also brought a seat soft and fluffy, just like- er, for you, Tails."

I lightly scratched my head. "Thank you." So I sat down and wrote my signature on each of my fans' game covers, faster than Sonic rolling around at the speed of sound (not literally). A little later, my blue friend zoomed into the store and found me there. I wasn't paying attention to him at first, but then tapped me while I was busy signing.

"'Sup, Yellow Sky?" he asked, doing his signature pose with his index finger sticking. "Looks like you've got a bunch of guys and gals waiting in this second line for your autograph, after buying your neat game! Long live the rebellion."

"Yeah, about that, signing like a hundred copies is no picnic," I wheezed while writing and sweating.

A while later, a muscular, mustached scientist showed up, ramming through the line of customers to get in front. "Out of my way! Evil scientist coming through!"

Sigh. It was Doctor Eggman.

The salamander cashier in the store informed with partial grief, "I am sorry, but we have sold out of all 150 copies of Blades of the Rebellion. And to tone down demand and prevent any more traffic, for YOU to take advantage of, we have no plans of restocking the game until further notice."

The remaining villagers groaned and left, except for Eggman, who was just desperate to get a copy.

"What!? This can't be!" Afterwards, he brought a large, glowing green lump of pork, preserved with brine and such. "Maybe this tasty ham will convince you to sell me a copy sooner. Sure, it's evil ham, but it's still ham!"

How cute, Eggster. I remember when you wanted to build a robot that would feed you that, according the the pilot where Sonic wanted a new sidekick.

Anyway, the cashier looked closely to that ghastly meat. "Looks...tasty, but bribing the employee won't cut it. As a policy, we don't do personal favors."

"This is an outrage. I had to wait over two years for the game to be released, delays INCLUDED, bought all the merchandise based on it, paid a THOUSAND dollars for its fundraiser, and this is how you end it? By leaving me with nothing?"

"Sorry about that, sir. Maybe next week…"

"...I could still order the game online, right? Oh wait, that could take weeks, considering that here, in Bygone Island, is isolated from everywhere else!"

Then, that old man looked at me at the stand and marched there. "So you're the creator of Blades of the Rebellion? I'll admit that I loved the presentation and enjoyed the demo from Game-Con, which is why I am asking if you have a copy of your own."

"I do have a copy of my own, Eggman," I responded coldly, "but it's not for sale. Wait to buy one."

He brought me the green ham. "Evil ham?"

"Yeech." I shoved the deviled meat aside. "Still not for sale, period. Besides, you were rude to the fans who got in line first, fair and square."

Eggman repeatedly banged the table. "You selfish little weasel. So this is how you treat your biggest supporter!? Unbelieveable! I oughta sue you for egging me to support you for nothing!"

Sonic stood in front of the maniac. "Leave Tails alone, Egghead. 'Sold out' means 'sold out.' If you're going to be a baby and throw a tantrum in front of the owner, then you shouldn't be here AT ALL!"

"Now that hurt." And so Eggman ran away from the game store, bawling like a...You know what Sonic meant. Now there's one thing that made us puzzle…

"Huh, strange," pointed out the blue hedgehog, standing like a soldier. "Why didn't Eggman bring his robots to attack us?"

"Thank goodness for that," sighed the game manager. "Otherwise, we would've ended up with a hurricane mess."

"Still, it's kind of odd for him to step down without a fight."

After sales have ended, critical acclaim had boomed once all the gamers played Blades of the Rebellion, even for as long as one day. They all praised the hand drawn-style visuals, music, gameplay, voice-acting, plot...the sky was the limit! But what about criticism? Well, glad you asked. While most of reviews were perfect 10s, some critics were somewhat more mixed on the similarities of a game that was created much earlier. One involving running, rolling, and collecting rings as fast as you can.

Then came the fanart of my characters, with Scion the king cheetah having the most art in the website "Artastic!" In my phone, I looked at each of every one of the drawings, as most were really nice, or downright magnificent. Unfortunately, there were plenty of lazy and offensive recolors here and there, and even came with descriptions like "original character, do not steal" or "nothin' personnel, kid" (It's correctly spelled "personal") Sometimes, popularity comes with a price, but the goodies outweigh the negatives nonetheless.

Later came even more special treatment whether it was cosplay, non-canon fanfictions, or flash fan videos. Eventually, as much I was satisfied with the support, I became fatigued by the huge trend I created, so I wanted to take a breather at the very least. But I was out of luck when reception turned sillier. Everywhere I went, whether it's somewhere online or the real world, most fans kept bugging me with unbearable jokes and weird memes. For instance...

 _"_ _Oh look, jewels! Om nom nom nom nom!"_ typed one user, who also posted a poorly drawn Nucleus eating the items from my game.

Really? I didn't intend that grolar bear to be that gluttonous in the first place!

And on the real world, they constantly spoiled me with paparazzi, invitations to parties, and gifts like…

"Hey, Tails!" squealed one fan, bringing an art piece. "Here's my Amoroso portrait! Hope you'll enjoy it!"

Another fan cried, "Check out my action figure based on Fukushū the bionic oni, the main antagonist of your game!"

"Eh, thanks," I replied.

Sometime later, I was getting pretty tired of the fandom I created, as it turned increasingly extreme over time. Sadly, no matter where I was, at least a few fans, or hundreds at most, were there to chase me, and in some cases, take my property, even my wallet, without permission.

"I got his goggles!" yelled one of them.

"Hey, that's mine!" I cried.

Suddenly, I heard a rumbling noise. Outside the village, there was a horde of screaming fans racing towards me. I knew this was way too much, so with the help of Sonic, we quickly looked for a hiding spot, hoping for my safety.

"We gotta get outta here, Tails!" shouted the blue hedgehog, grabbing my hand and running. "Don't worry, I'll bring you to the perfect hideout until those fans chill out!"

And so I wanted to get away from it all, by spending time with someone I loved, alone. Want to know how I managed to do it? Live and learn.


	3. Preparing for the Date with Zooey

For fans who watched our show, I'm sure you all remember when I saw a vixen at Justin Beaver's concert. On the following day, I started falling in love with her and that's when my current friends helped me how to talk to her. First, Sonic taught me how to be cool and sarcastic, only for Zooey to walk away. Next, Knuckles advised me to act "manly" and eat raw meat, which ended up with likewise lukewarm results. Then, Amy taught me how to be a "gentleman," which was why I disguised myself as the Phantom of the Opera in front of Zooey at her house...but then she closed the window. Afterwards, as advised by Sticks, I danced with two feathery fans, but that didn't work either, notwithstanding Zooey's sneezing. Eventually, Eggman found me and advised me to just be myself. Of course, he then used a music-playing giant robot to kidnap my later-to-be girlfriend, but that's when I saved her using my plane's Unbolterizer to disassemble the robot, and my Enerbeam. Since then, Zooey and I became a couple.

Following that mostly awkward backstory, I thought it would be perfect to go on a special private date with my girlfriend. At home...

"I know what's it like to have too many fans who won't ever leave you alone," claimed Knuckles.

"You do?" I asked.

"Actually, nope."

I facepalmed.

"However, there were a bunch of yellow baby ducks that kept following me once I fed them leftover bread I found from a garbage can. Either I raised them well, or it might have been that I was the first guy they saw after hatching from their eggs."

"You babysat ducklings?"

"Which was why they wouldn't leave me alone until weeks later when I taught them how to fly...in some way."

Sonic began to cringe. "No wonder why we've heard some quacking every time you're around, Knux!"

"At least they were better than the field of explosive ducklings from one of my dreams!"

"Anyway," I continued, "I've been talking to Zooey, asking her if we'd go on our date together in somewhere alone. Without hesitation, she agreed to this, but none of us knows which place would be the best."

Then, the hedgehog turned to me. "Tails, I hear that in a distinct forest, there's a fancy restaurant, called "The Secret Splendor Smokewood," which specializes private dates, with some kind of discount for famous people, like you. And it get better. Very few people know about this place, hence its name, so this makes it perfect for you to get away from those bothersome fans of yours."

"Well, let's hope I have enough money to pay the bill," I remarked.

Afterwards, I called my girlfriend on my phone to tell her about the luxury restaurant.

"Tails!" Zooey answered. "So have you decided where we should go on our private date?"

"I have, but it's a secret. You see, there is some kind of restaurant in a forest, called "The Secret Splendor Smokewood." I'll email you the directions soon, but I am hoping that the food wouldn't not too pricy for both of us."

"Relax, Tails. My parents are known for giving me lots of bonus allowances, so as long as the place doesn't serve only raw meals, it'd be perfect."

"Hope to see you there tonight!"

Well, that was easier than I expected! Normally, when two people make an arrangement, there would be some complications. I ought to consider myself blessed.

Of course, I was to prepare for the quality time with perfection, so there came Amy's pre-dating lessons, not that I asked for them, of course. However, she decided to skip ahead from table manners as I already knew the basics since Sticks at the awards ceremony. Nevertheless, Amy took me to the department store in a mall to buy a suit.

"Here do we have a variety of tuxedos, neckties, and monkey suits, each varying in color, texture and pattern," she pointed out, holding my shoulder.

"So which suit would you recommend for me exactly?" I asked.

"Well, that's up to you to decide, but if I were you, I'd go with the gold tuxedo; it matches the same primary color you and Zooey share. Still, don't take my word for it, always follow your heart."

Sounding a little off-topic, Comedy Chimp, the host of the Comedy Chimp Show, came out of a changing room, wearing a yellow uniform. "Say, does this monkey suit make me look fat?"

"You already looked this way in the first place!" bellowed Amy. "Though the monkey suit certainly fits you."

"I'll take that as a complement."

After the trip to the department store, where I picked a white tuxedo and a lava-themed necktie, the pink hedgehog took me to "Unoan from M.E.," a jewelry shop/gemstone museum with rumors of mystical rocks in presence. There, we were to get jewelry for Zooey.

There, we saw Knuckles wearing a black cap and gold security guard badge and standing near the door, which sort of surprised us. "Nobody moves a muscle!" he ordered with a stop pose. Then, he scanned us with a metal-detecting wand. After that, he declared, "Sweet, no bombs in those pockets!"

"Knuckles, it's us," growled Amy. "You wouldn't believe that we'd bring explosives, did you?"

"Just wanted to make sure. Now come with me, I've got something to show you two."

"Um, Knux," I informed, "We're in the middle of-"

"Tut, tut, tut. Say no more, I know what you want. Follow me."

Without us arguing, the big red triangle with legs took us to the gemstone and jewelry exhibition where we saw what appeared to be Chaos Emeralds, which all looked amazing in terms of craftsmanship and quality. But what really stood out was a huge, glowing green gemstone in the center. As much as others were still astonishing, the big one was not like any other.

"Maybe this Master Emerald you're looking at would knock your true love's socks off, lover boy," Knuckles proudly suggested to me, later holding the rock. "Sure, I've committed to guarding this for as long as I live, but maybe it wouldn't hurt for you to have fun with it for a little bit."

After a moment, I responded with hesitation, "It does look so gorgeous, but maybe something smaller and less dangerous will do."

The big red security guard was suddenly holding a somewhat smaller gem-embedded ring, once I faced him again. However, it was still too huge.

"Whoa, that looks nice too, but I need something even smaller. Besides, Zooey and I aren't getting married."

After I blinked, the toothy smiling Knuckles was instantly holding a jewelry necklace, smaller than the giant ring, but still too big to wear.

"Something much smaller."

Once more, in a blink of an eye, Knuckles was holding a rainbow gemstone necklace, in normal size. Finally, it was perfect for Zooey! She always loved rainbows.

"We'll take it!" I announced with joy.

"Excellent choice, it's only one of the finest handcrafted in Angel Island. Right now, this spotlight item costs $100,100,100, but I'll let you keep it secretly, free of charge. Just don't tell my boss about this, alright?"

"As long as we're not stealing," I said, sweating. But then we attempted to leave the store, the alarm went on, thanks to the security tag on the necklace. We walked back in where the monocle-wearing shopkeeper found us "stealing."

"Aw, dang," muttered Knuckles. Then, he grabbed us on the shoulders and told the manager, "Sir, I found these two careless oafs taking the piece of jewelry while forgetting to pay for it!"

"Careless oafs?" barked Amy.

The shopkeeper clapped his hands. "Good work, Knuckles. Now you can-"

"But I think I should be nice and pay for it for them; after all, if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink. For you will heap burning coals on their head."

Then, I asked, "Wait, what are trying to-"

Knuckles whispered to me, "Psst, I'm here to bail you two out! However, I do want to look good on my job. Still, play along with me."

And so we were sent to the point of sale, where Big Red managed to purchase for the necklace with...I don't know how to describe it, but…

"I don't carry any money or a card, but here's this piece of junk I found while randomly digging in Mount Safety," informed Knuckles, sending an ironically precious, rainbow-colored crystal.

The shopkeeper's eyes widened. "Wait a minute, is that the rare Sanctus Sprite's Crystal? That ought to be worth the same price as the necklace! We have a deal!"

"Thanks!" The echidna then turned to Amy and me. "You two are lucky that I'm being nice here. I do hope you don't do anything stupid like this again!"

I argued, "But we weren't-" Knuckles bonked me in the head, so my thoughts miraculously changed. "-I mean, no sir, we will never again."

"Good."

Overall, this made us wonder if he wasn't as useless as we previously thought, though this didn't change the personality he has now.

After the jewelry shop, Amy and I visited the fragrance parlor where we tried out various kinds of cologne, though it was difficult to find the perfect one. But I wondered, did Zooey need me to smell super good?

"Jungle Jubilee?" I asked, spraying the fragrance and then sniffing it. "Ugh, only Sticks would enjoy this." I grabbed the next one. "Chili Dog for the Champs!? What kind of person would actually buy this, besides Sonic, of course?" On to the third. "The Soul." I sprayed it and sniffed. "Hmm, something a little more zesty." To the fourth. "Beauty Bomb." I sprayed it and sniffed. "Okay, a little too strong." Soon, I spotted a perfume bottle that was shaped like Amoroso the Wolfdog, which did not surprise me that much. "I bet female fans will race for that."

Indeed had several girls show up and fight for the glass bottle, much to my fatigue by the fanbase. And to make this "easier," Amy was one of them, who balanced the fragrance on top of her mallet. "Back off! This perfume belongs to a crazy pizza woman...who juggles and sings, like me!" Consequently, the bottle fell down and shattered, leaving a pink scented puddle. She smiled nervously. "Oops." And so the fans ended up mad. Like, really mad. So mad that they were willing to rip her from head to toe.

After escaping the mall and running away from the angry mob, it was almost time for the date. At home, Amy groomed my fur and next helped me put on the necktie we bought we bought at the mall. "Now hold still, while I make a knot with this tie. I want you to look as perfect as possible for your special date."

"If that's what you recommend," I responded.

When the makeover was done, she put me to a surprise presentation in front of our friends. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you the new and improved Tails!"

I showed up, everyone clapped, and boy, did I look so handsome! It was out with the nerdy goggles and belt and in with the fancy tie and buttons, for one day at least.

Sticks brought me a bouquet of assorted exotic flowers, each out of the usual. "Here are some plants I picked from a jungle. What is true love without bringing the best in all of nature?"

"Gee, thanks, Sticks," I replied. "That's very generous of you. I'm sure Zooey will love of of these."

Amy continued with glee, "Well done! Now, I'm sure that each has fulfilled their role contributing to the preparation of Tail's date." Then, she looked at the blue blur with sarcasm. "Right, Sonic?"

"I might have, I might have not," replied Sonic, staring into space. "You'll find out soon."

"That is typical of you."

As soon as things were going so smoothly, my phone rang. Someone was calling me, but who? I asked my friends, "Could anyone give me a minute, please?" With their permission, I went to the bathroom and answered on the phone, "Hello?"

 _"_ _Tails! It's you! Long time no see!"_ It turned out to be Willabelle, an energetic, soft and short-haired human girl who was one of my old teammates involved with our game, as the beta tester. _"The reason why I've called you is because we wanted to invite you to our discussion of our plans after the success of our game, Blades of the Rebellion!"_

"When does it start?" I asked.

 _"_ _I hope tonight sounds good; whatcha think about that?"_

"As much as it's nice to speak with you again, I am not sure if I have the time for a discussion, because I will be having dinner time with my girlfriend."

 _"_ _Oh, that's too bad, because because otherwise, the rest of our crew are going to be pretty busy starting with the next day."_

Back in school, my old friends and I, as the director, have formed our alliance as a development team called "Freakware," named after our abnormalities we eventually treated as blessings. Now let me give you the names of my old friends, besides the human...Okay, more like nicknames. The names were: Fingers, a cyan monkey with six-fingered hands, responsible for coding, Tim and Tom Two-Heads, a reddish-brown two-headed turtle responsible for art designing, and Mic, a green four-eared cat responsible for making music, hence his extra hearing power.

"Wait, my old crew will be there!? Don't worry, I will find a way to talk to you somehow."

 _"_ _Uhh, sounds good? What about your date?"_

"I'll find a way. Just add me. Bye!" I turned off the phone. "Oh, no. Why did I put myself into this mess? Now I have to choose between the date and the discussion. Everyone knows that you can't have your cake and eat it too." Then, it hit me… "What if I brought Beatbark, my smartphone-headed robot dog, in which Zooey would think that I'd be talking to him, when he 'serves' the role as 'my crew?' That might be darn creative! However, in most restaurants, pets aren't allowed...unless they're not biological and that they're much cleaner."

Later, the robot dog and I came outside, where we saw a long white limousine, playing loud soul music. We were ready to be transported, but who was the driver? For sure, the side windows suggested three guests inside.

"Everyone," announced Sonic, "Those guys inside are going to take Tails to the SSS. Rumors say that they came from a different universe, but they're JUST rumors, right? Anyway, they're taking a vacation from all of their detective work, and once I met them at the beach, we made good business stuff with each other, and with their radical car, I've decided to pay them to take Tails to his destination. Don't worry, they aren't really strangers, so you can trust them."

"Looks like I was wrong about you being selfish," sighed Amy.

The driver greeted to me, "Hey, there, looking forward to our groovy ride to 'Triple S?' You know, Secret Splendor Smokewood?"

"Um, sounds nice," I answered. "How much did Sonic pay you for my transport?"

One of the passengers curled up his tail and groaned, "15 bucks. Honestly, this is getting a little petty..."

"Remember our policy, _SP-0_ ," growled the driver. "We never turn down work that pays!"

"Yeah, whatever he said!" 'buzzed' the second passenger.

And so Beatbark and I entered the limo.

"Glad your friend called us to give you a drive!" laughed the driver. "Trust me, you are going to love it here."

During the long ride, we listened to disco music and played cards to keep us busy. Everything smelled nice, and thank goodness nothing was related to my game, so I couldn't complain about this treatment overkill.

Then, I began noticing that the passengers and driver were hiding their faces (or most of them) with accessories. The youngest passenger was a bee with a name tag that was written "C1-14R-ME-B (pronounced Char-me-be), in terms of codename. He wore sports tape like us, black gloves, a black high-tech jacket and a mask helmet that looked an awful lot like an alien's head, due to its odd shape, antennae and red lens. The older passenger, with a name tag saying "SP-0 (pronounce the zero as 'o')", was a ninja chameleon who wore shades, sports tape like what the bee was wearing, and a dark purple spandex suit. Finally, the driver, whose name tag was written "V3K-T0R (fek-ter)", was a crocodile wearing a bandaged HMD, a green bush-like afro, and platinum-colored disco clothes. Now that I thought of them, they looked familiar.

At the end of the ride, the dog and I finally arrived to SSS, where I saw Zooey from a distance, waving at me. With a ribbon-loaded attire, she never looked so beautiful!

C1-14R-ME swiftly waved good-bye, before closing the window. "Have fun dating!"

"Give her a kiss when you have to!" suggested V3K-T0R.

"Always focus your spirit," added SP-0.

After the limo left, I asked Zooey with reddened cheeks, "So, ready for our latest date?"

She pointed at Beatbark. "That's a cute robot dog you got there. Anyway, I didn't drive all the way here to this secret steakhouse just to eat, so of course I'm ready!"

The waiter from the entrance exclaimed, "Very good! Now come with me, and I'll find your table."

"This dinner, at the very least, was one of the most compelling experiences I had in a long time. The decorations were magnificent, the drinks were tasty (especially the probiotic red grape juice), the food was great, and there were only the two of us, having peace together without anyone else bothering me whatsoever.

"I hear that your game, Blades of the Rebellion, turned out to be one of the best in the market," said Zooey, taking a sip of juice. "When I think about it, you must have worked really hard on it."

"Yeah, it took us more than two years of development," I replied, taking a bite of my salmon. "And now I just want to rest, alone with you. For the record, I'm getting really tired of those crazy admirers."

"Agreed; when it comes to fans, enthusiasm is one thing, but delirium is something else."

"Anyway, I feel like talking about something else now. So how are things going for you?"

"Just fine, thank you. Some rough areas here and there, when it comes to family issues, but they're all in the past."

"Oh, wait! I remember something! I have something to bring you, thanks to Knuckles." I brought the assorted gemstone-embedded necklace. "This is a gift, as all I can I say."

The vixen couldn't believe her eyes. "Wow, it's beautiful! How did you know that I enjoy rainbows?"

"Everytime I see you nowadays, you're often near a rainbow that puts a smile on both our faces."

"Aww, especially when it's true, that is a sweet thing to say!"

"I also have a bouquet of exotic flowers, thanks to a jungle badger," I added, bringing the said item. "Don't worry, she picked the ones that aren't poisonous."

"...Why, you shouldn't have! Now I wish there was something I could give you."

"No, it's fine Zooey, you don't have to send me back anything. Your smile is all I need."

Suddenly, the phone-headed dog under the table "rang," so I went under; on his six-inch, 4K-resolution "screen-face," there was my whole crew: Fingers was in the big screen whereas everyone else were in smaller ones below.

 _"_ _It is good to see you again, Director Tails,"_ greeted the monkey. _"Of course, you are still having quality time with a guest, but what interests me is how you will manage."_

"I'm all good, Fingers," I replied. "So what are our plans after making Blades of the Rebellion?"

Looking surprised, Zooey asked me, "Is everything alright with your pet?"

Getting back up, I began to sweat. "...Um, yep, absolutely! In fact, he's helping me….rehearse for a play for next week! Out of anxiety, he's been insisting that I practice little by little everytime."

"If you say so, I think…"

I went back under the table.

 _"_ _You know,"_ continued Fingers, _"After all the critical acclaim and surprising high sales, I have been considering the making of downloadable content, or what fans may call "DLC" for short."_

 _"_ _That is a good idea!"_ replied Tim (the left head of the turtle), in a gruff voice. _"Maybe we could add new characters, like the abandoned liger sorcerer, to put extra variation to the gameplay."_

 _"_ _Or new stages like Freaky Factory to build up more replay value,"_ counteracted Tom, the calmer right head. _"But I don't know which would be less time-consuming."_

 _"_ _Remember the number one lesson: A delayed game, or a piece of content, is eventually good, but a rushed one is forever bad."_

 _"_ _But can't rushed content get patched through updates?"_

 _"_ _Patches are better off for emergency purposes, as long as we make everything doable by beginning!"_

"Tim's got a point there, Tom," I replied. "We'd rather that we take the time to properly develop DLC, whether it's big or small. Now, could you please give me minute?" I got back to my girlfriend. "So where were we?"

After I kept switching back and forth, whether conversation was about post-release content, or casual talk, Zooey turned puzzled and suspicious. "...Okay, what is happening, really? Because you said that this date was for just the two of us alone."

"I know...but there are some minor complications…"

Later, I was saved by the waiter, who wowed us by serving a huge amount of desserts, ranging from sprinkled ice cream macarons to a giant, decorative red velvet cake. "Hope you two have room for sweets after your dinner," he said. Pick any one you prefer." Phew.

After the date, Zooey drove home, whereas the crocodile, chameleon, and bee took me back. Between me and my girlfriend, the feast was fun while it lasted, though the penultimate was rather a bit of a jumbled mess, with me switching from conversation to conversation. I guess this was okay this time, but I seriously needed to do better next time, or else bad things could really happen.


	4. A Childhood Bully

After the "double-date" with the abrupt ending, my friends and I were playing my game together again. This time, though, I went first, playing as Horns the Owl, until Sticks was next, in which I taught her how to play as Bonnie Bones considering how she never played with electronics before.

"So what does this button do?" The badger asked, pointing at the X button.

"Press the X button, and you'll perform a special attack," I replied. "In this case, Bonnie will throw her boomerang that will gather hard-to-reach items."

Sticks obeyed and fulfilled the said task. "Now I am wondering if those characters are absolutely being mind-controlled by this strange contraption I am holding! But why don't they move without us?"

"That's the point of video games. You control to win."

"Maybe we can go out, and find those warriors who we will teach how to move by themselves."

My eyes narrowed. "Oh, brother."

After playtime, I was simply using my laptop to look up my latest e-mails. Most of them were pretty much praises for my game, but the very latest one, entitled "I am back, fox boy!" appeared to be suspicious, and not in a very good way. I read it anyway, and it turned out that it was like a death threat:

 _"_ _Found you at last. Remember me, Miles Prowler? At school, I used to be the most glorious of them all until you found a way to take everything from me. First, I'll make the world wide web a living nightmare for you. Then, worse things in real life will happen to you soon. Sincerely, the creator of Fastor."_

While the letter was a little vague, my heart already started pounding like a bass drum. Who was the "creator of Fastor" sending me this potentially threatening letter? It was likely that I've forgotten about someone and something long ago...

On the following day, I tried to get my mind off the letter by simply chatting with Zooey on my computer. You know what they say, "ignorance is bliss," well, most of the time.

"Hello, Tails! How have you been?" She typed.

"Fine, thank you," I typed back.

This time, she asked for a second date, in which she was to decide the next place. "On our last meeting, you picked our place, which was The Secret Splendor Smokewood. Perhaps we can plan another date for sometime later? This time, however, it's my turn to choose where we want to go."

"What place would you like to go to?"

"Not sure right now, but it'll come to me." Her response ended with a winking emoticon.

"Take as much time as you need, Zooey!" I replied with a smiley face.

Right after the online conversation, suddenly came back the creator of "Fastor," sending me another message, more detailed than the first:

 _"_ _I'm back again, Fox Boy! Just to let you know, I'll be able to hack into your account on Talk-a-Lot in the next six hours. You know why I'm doing this? Because malformed freaks like you don't deserve to have friends or especially a girlfriend, even if you work hard! Either you're equal, or you're not, but don't take it from me, look at yourself at the mirror. Those two tails of yours have always look so ugly. First phase currently in progress."_

Call me "Fox Boy," would you? Now that I thought about it, that familiar insult brought back a glimpse of a traumatic memory bounced back before my eyes. I won't tell you the name or reveal the bully's past actions towards me right now, but I can say that the childhood enemy had done terrible things to me, beyond typical harassment. Anyway, out of considerable anger, I wanted to reply back with some nasty words. Unfortunately, when I clicked on the reply box, this was when I realized that the bully "blocked" me from saying anything in return. If anything, though, I had to be on the lookout for any upcoming damage to my virtual property.

Indeed had the person performed the first phase in the next six hours. First, it was hacking into my account and defacing my drawings, specifically the characters from my game, into twisted, obscene goth stereotypes. At first sight, I couldn't believe my eyes, but then, I instantly realized how bad this all was. For instance, poor Scion not only had his clothes changed, but he also turned bone-thin and pale, and got covered in chains, bandages, and blood. The others received the same treatment, with their body shapes and clothes gruesomely changed. As a result, many of my fans were shocked and started to question me on why "I" did this.

 _"_ _Dude, how could you ruin your drawings like this?"_ asked one of them.

 _"_ _Are you trying to betray us or something?"_ asked another.

 _"_ _If this is some kind of sick joke, I'm not laughing."_ asked the third.

In response, I apologized for this incident and informed them about a bully hacking into my account. They partially trusted me, but they couldn't figure out who was destroying my works. Thankfully, I had the unharmed drawings stored in a folder, so I deleted the recolors and posted back the originals. Nonetheless, even so, I was scarred for what that cyberbully did to my drawings, so I stayed extra alert for what might come next.

Now, to gain a little more depth to this story, I managed to interview a couple of people, in Amy's house. First, I met with Dave the Intern, who told me everything he saw about what the bully did. Then, it was Eggman, who told me how he himself worked with the troublemaker, only to regret doing so, despite managing to get his revenge on me. To remember what each told me, I wrote their stories in a journal.

According the Dave's interview, that bully, in person and wearing a bulky robot mascot, came to the game store in Village Center, boycotting my game by holding an obscene sign, one against hybrid animals.

"Whatever you do, do not tell the cops!" the "robot" hollered, with a gruff voice and a Texan accent. "Y'all just gotta join my non-violent campaign against unethically mixed breeds."

"As much as he comes up with a debatable topic, that is one brash robot we're looking at," pointed out Dave.

"Yeah," added a glasses-wearing desert rat named Charlie, "Brasher than mine."

"I ain't brash! I'm just here to warn ya not to buy Blades of the Rebellion! It's got hybrids, like a wolf dog and a grolar bear, and those species are known to suffer from tons of 'genetic defects' due to their 'incomplete DNA!' Buyin' the game will only support the inhumane breeding of mismatchin' animals even further!"

"Dude, it's just a game," responded Dave. "Just because you don't like it doesn't mean we don't. Now 'beep' off, or as Dave the Invincible, I'll summon my minions to take disassemble you."

"Ya liar! You ain't no villain, even though ya say y'are! And beaver, your braces prove my point!"

"I am a nutria."

Suddenly, the manager from the shop arrived. "What's with all the ruckus?"

"This guy," answered both Dave and Charlie, pointing at the troublemaker.

"Hey, Mr. Robot, we'd like you to kindly move along and not harass the customers. Perhaps you can discuss this 'controversial' topic in a more appropriate place."

"Traitor!" Offended, the bully blinded the shopkeeper with a large can of pepper spray from the suit's right sleeve.

"AI-I-I-E! THAT STINGS! I've got myself some spicy eyes!" he screamed out of agony, while holding his swelled-up eyes. "Just what the heck is wrong with you, anyway!? Security!"

As a surprise, Knuckles (wearing his badge for the second time) arrived from the game store, pointing at himself narcissistically. "I serve as the guard here as well." Then, he pounced on and punched the "robot" in the face multiple times. He shouted with one punch per word, "No! Spraying! My! Boss! At! Any! (punches heavier) TIME!"

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!" the bully screamed in sync.

Meanwhile, near a large junkyard, Eggman along with his two robots, Orbot, red and cube-headed, and Cubot, yellow and sphere-shaped, were taking a very slow stroll, still moping over what happened between us. "I'm beginning to think that this was all a big mistake," he weeped.

Orbot informed, "Blades of the Rebellion is back in stock now."

The doctor stopped sniveling and decided to use reverse psychology. "Big deal! After some thinking, I have no more interest in getting Tails' garbage of a game, especially now that its price had gone up! And if I ever see that treacherous little fox again, I'll make sure to give a piece of my mind for sure!"

"How long have you've been hold that grudge of yours?" asked Cubot, scratching his head.

"A long, long time since the incident."

"Furthermore, why didn't you attack Sonic and Tails in the first place?"

The doc took a deep breath. "First off, I realized that bringing my robots can get old real fast, since Sonic and his friends always beat them at the end. Secondly, I admit that I have, or had a deep passion of the game's core concept; I once considered Amoroso to be my favorite idol. She had that Fuzzy Puppy-like feel to the point of pure...furriness!"

"She did look adorable in that trailer," admitted Orbot. "Though I would have to say that Nucleus the viking is my most favorite. He's such one ripped bear."

"Therefore, I felt like it would dishonorable to annihilate someone who worked so hard on that game and its particular aspects. Just imagine, without him around, there would be no more triple A indies from him!"

"And then you cried like a 2-year-old just because you didn't get the game in the first place."

"I'm over it now! If that little weasel shows up, he'll somehow pay for betraying me! First, I'll find whatever here is useful in this dump. I'm on a budget now, ever since I donated to that stupid fundraiser."

Sometime later, after getting banned from the game store, the bully in the now-battered robot suit wobbled to the junkyard, which apparently turned out to be a "home." "Curse that Game 'N' Play, curse that manager, curse that security guard who beat me up like I was a punching bag, curse everyone!" Suddenly, the troublemaker saw Eggman and his robots walking through the yard and then brought with a broken baseball bat, ready for a good beating. "Hey! What are ya nerds doing here in my yard!? Y'all better get outta here, NOW!"

"Oh, no," Eggman responded. "we're just here to...get a few spare parts for my robots! Not planning to stay here for long!"

"Ya better get out, BEFORE I MASH YA INTO MUSH!"

"Whoa, WHOA! JUST TAKE IT EASY THERE!" the doctor screamed, while quickly stepping back.

The bully slightly calmed down. "Answer this question, then! Do ya play Blades of the Rebellion? Because if ya do, then you're a DIPWAD GAMER. A DIPWAD GAMER who is on my list."

"I don't play it, so of course I'm not a dipwad gamer!"

"Good, because I've got something to show ya. I am not asking, by the way."

Dr. Eggman and the robot duo obeyed and followed the big "robot" to a ruined school bus, which served as a bedroom. Once inside, the bully steadily took off the robot costume and revealed herself as an enormous, big-boned, dark brown, striped-shirt-wearing female raccoon dog with messy fur full of scars, wounds and some burnt areas. Moreover, her teeth were yellow and crooked, her left arm had a broken heart tattoo, her claws were uneven and dulled, and her body odor was even worse than the smell of a skunk. Furthermore, her tail was covered in bandages.

Cubot gasped, "That huge hobo is a girl?"

"Yet, she looks more like a tough man, and sounds like one," added Orbot.

"The name is Terra the Terrible, or just "Terra" for short," said the tanuki. "Does that ring a bell?"

"Actually, it does," responded the surprised doctor. "I've heard rumors that you're one of the most secretive criminals in Bygone Island, perhaps the most dangerous even."

Terra continued, "It didn't have to be that way. Back at school, I used to be a popular game developer who earned lots of money all for my various kinds of satire. With all that money, I had the potential to buy a new house and get away from my stupid parents! As you can see, my current lifestyle is all thanks to one freak fox who ruined my life to the extreme. With his metal junk and his slop of a game, he had ridiculed me and then had everyone defriend me online, thanks to the help his puny freak friends. Worst of all, my parents kicked me out of my old home once they knew all of my activities as exposed by the school newspaper!"

"You're telling me, raccoon boy- I mean, girl, this place is a dump! Just how do you manage to survive like this?"

"I chow down disposed food in this area and use the old computer, which is all I have left from my ex-home." The tanuki brought her ancient scallop-shaped laptop, refurbished with parts taken from the yard. On the screen was a "fast-paced" bootleg-like game, called 'The Fast and the Fastor.' "Behold, the ultimate platformer!"

Like my game, Terra's was inspired by the older game (with the running, rolling, and ring-collecting) I mentioned earlier. However, as I mentioned earlier, it was far cruder, for various reasons.

"Looks like your game's got a heap of satire and stolen assets from various other games," Dr. Eggman pointed out with a smile. "It's diabolical, just like who I am and what I do! Of course, the background looks poorly-organized right now, and the presentation leaves a lot to be desired, but nothing some fine-tuning can't fix."

"Hey, old man, I have experience with makin' games. I'm also free to make it the way I want it to be. However, I still need your help advertisin' this, so that I can make money out of this here game of mine, in order to buy a new home, and get my revenge on my Tails Prowler. It's been more than 10 years since I've lived in this literal dump."

Egghead laid his chin on his left hand, thinking. "Hmm, so you too want to teach that wretched two-tailed fox a lesson? You know, you'll need more than advertisment. Much more. Tell you what, I'll offer you a stay in my lair, in exchange of a free copy of The Fast and the Fastor, and you as a full-time MINION. There, we'll be working together. But once you make enough money to get a new house, and also give Tails what he deserves, you'll be out of MY house! Fair enough?"

"Deal." And the two shook hands and laughed evilly.


	5. The Bully's Revenge

When Terra arrived to Eggman's lair, she noticed the rocky ground and all of the security contraptions around the area. "No garden here, and lots of machines everywhere! You must have been so filthy rich to have a high-tech luxury home like this!"

"Don't ask how I've become this wealthy," replied Eggman, unlocking the entrance door with a remote. "Now follow me, Terra, and I'll take you to my living room."

By the time the two entered the living room/laboratory hybrid, Terra couldn't believe his eyes. "Whoa, look at all of these stuff! Cool robots, a huge computer, a real TV, and a decent couch! Like, this is so much better than my junkyard home!" Then, she began to go wild. Like really wild. First, she jumped on the sofa like it was a trampoline. "This is fun, man!"

"Hey, easy on the couch!" cried Eggman. "I just vacuumed it!"

"Too bad, dipwad. Ya brought me to your territory, and now I can have it." Later, the tanuki bully spotted the pantry, swiped the doctor's remote off his hands, and used the remote to open up the larder full of snacks. "I call dibs on them onion ring chips!"

"Don't get any crumbs on the floor!"

Much to Eggman's dismay, the raccoon dog did the opposite and sloppily devoured every snack bag in sight, leaving a huge mess of slobber and bits on the couch, the table, and the floor.

"This is why I hate having guests around," groaned the doctor. "Like this one. Hopefully, she's no worse than Kyle the Gorilla, whowas a heck of a nuisance..."

Sometime soon, with the help of Eggman and his new ad program, Terra got to the obligation of advertising The Fast and the Fastor, using the doctor's computer. "Man, now I really wish I had a computer like yours, Eggward."

"It's Eggman, you dolt."

"Eggman, Eggward, Eggwad, whatever! Now, can I use your credit card to pay for them ads?"

The doctor informed, "First things first, Terra. In order to advertise the right way, there are some certain steps to follow before then. Break them, and you become a nuisance. One, know your audience, whether it's gamers, artists, etc. Since no one is born the same, don't try to please people when you know you can't. After all, not everyone likes video games. Two, know where you'll be advertising, depending on the situation or the place, because trust me, you'd be wasting cash, as in my cash, if you don't. Three, control yourself, because too much advertising will be money-draining as well, and not everyone will at all be interested in buying the game. The forth's a big one: Know your product. Don't lie or treat the audience like idiots, because they always know what quality is, and if the product is destined to flop, there's no reason to over-promote it in the first place. I'm telling you these because I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made while commercializing a revision of my homemade tomato sauce."

"I'll just see what I can do, Eggward."

"It's Egg-MAN! You do this on purpose, don't you?"

Unfortunately, Terra broke all four rules and bombarded every website she could find with her ads, citing that The Fast and the Fastor was the greatest game of all time. Unfooled by the poor presentation, many angered users refused attention and looked away from them all.

However, she wasn't doing this just to nag everyone to play her game; she was doing this in attempt to overshadow the popularity of my game. Regardless of where I went, whether it was a wiki, a video website, or all others, what she sent were a hurricane of commercials and a flood of spam letters in my email account, both egging me to try his game. To counter these problems, I tried closing all those windows deleting the letters, but they just kept coming, and coming. And COMING!

Sometime later, I was contacted by Willabelle, once again through video telephony, regarding my situation with the ads. She asked me, _"Suffering from an 'adver-tornado,' buddy?"_

"Yeah, I have!" I responded angrily. "First, that old-time pest tried to cyberbully me, and now she's forcing me to buy malware!"

 _"_ _Same here when it comes those stupid ads!"_ she complained. _"You know, Tails, I just wish that whoever exactly planned this would just go away!"_

"That's Terra to you, and now she wants revenge on all of us for...well, 'taking away her fame.' Therefore, she's trying to annoy everyone like this! Any ideas on what we do about it, Willabelle?"

All in a comical fashion, the human girl's face had turned red, her angry eyes have been magnified with pupils missing, steam had came out of her ears, and fire had surrounded her entire body. She shouted quickly, _"I tried using an ad blocker to keep me 'sheltered,' but I was shocked when it failed to identify any of those Fastor adverts! How the FRICKIN' FRICK is that even possible!?"_ Then, she took a deep breath and reverted to her calmer state. _"Sorry about the temper. Usually, I don't steam up like that at all."_

"Might have been unique coding. I'll try inspecting their data, but I doubt it'll be easy."

Then, Willabelle started to remember something recent. _"Wait a minute, a while ago, you said you were cyberbullied. What did Terra say to you? Would you like to talk about it, sweetie?"_

I replied normally, "No, thank you, I'll be okay. I already know not to hold back, even if some call me a 'freak fox' just because I have two tails. Now, time for some important things to do about this mess." After the meeting, I took the grueling time to extract some source codes and data on every advertisement I had received in the internet. As a surprise, some key codes looked kind of alien; they weren't even from the keyboard to the point of analysis being virtually impossible!

A few days later, on her laptop, Terra took a look at the weak statistics in his game's official website, and boy, was she quite a little disappointed. And by "quite," I mean "QUITE." She snarled, "Why, just why? How come not one single person bought my game!? I even got hate letters for being annoyin', despite the FACT that I created the greatest game of all time! What a bun'cha dipwads!"

Dr. Eggman crossed his arms and squinted his eyes. "You sure that you made the GREATEST game of all time?"

"Of course I have! I wouldn't make nothin' otherwise!"

"Okay then, perhaps I could take a close look of The Fast and the Fastor. I just want to see how it works exactly."

"Peh, fine!" And so the begrudged tanuki gave the doctor her game on her laptop.

"Say, does this have a tutorial?" asked a baffled Eggman, who pressed the the start button on-screen. "Because I need to know the controls."

"What kind of dipwad reads tutorials?" responded Terra with skepticism. " But I don't remember no controls."

"Says the gargantuan girl who created the game. Consider it one reason why no one buys this." Nonetheless, the doctor resumed and tried all the buttons on the keyboard. He found this to be pretty bothersome as the controls seem to be completely out of place. "Okay, seriously, who the heck taught you how to implement the controls?" Suddenly, he changed his thought. "Actually, that's alright, because with some semi-evil programing experience I could always polish them for you."

While Eggman tried settling with the poor controls, the playable character on the screen was a spiky-haired, derpy-faced, shark-toothed, banana-colored caricature rabbit-rat-hedgehog chimera, whose full name was "Gaddago Fastor." In the game, he was capable of going fast and manipulating electricity, though the controls didn't really prove that.

"So, how are ya liking my character Fastor?" asked Terra with enthusiasm.

"Well, just interesting, though he looks an awful lot like a blue nemesis of mine. I assume that 'Gaddago Fastor' is literally the moto 'gotta go fast,' with 'er' after the last word. Now, for everything else..."

During his experience, gameplay consisted of...well, pretty much crashing into various obstacles non-stop, whether it was a wall, a pillar, a crate, a battleship, a spiked wall, pretty much everything you could think of. Then there were utterly unresponsive controls, unexpected cheap deaths from glitches and seemingly-innocent obstacles, constant frame rate slowdown, long moments of immobility, and even permanent software freezes. After playing the game, in case you might have expected it…

"Well, I might not be an die-hard gamer, but I find your game to be an ABSOLUTE living nightmare! No wonder why no one wanted to buy it! Bugs and glitches galore, the level designs were unbearable, the profanity-overloaded dialogue and its grammar were terrible, the mechanics were utterly clunky, and the high-pitched sounds and music were overwhelmingly obnoxious! What I liked were the inappropriate visuals, but that was all!"

"That's what all people say, Eggman," Terra sighed. "No matter what I do, I can't do nothin' to please anyone! All I'm better at making is malware!"

"It's EGG- Wait a minute, you finally got my name right! Anyway, you realize that not all is doom and gloom. I did mention that I CAN polish this slop, right?"

"Whatever."

"Same here." The doctor then began to walk away. "If you need me, I'll be in my office. I need time for your game's aftertaste to come off of my tongue."

On the office computer, Dr. Eggman was finishing on some kind of program that appeared to be a speed-boost. "Now I think this looks ready to help my computer run faster, and MORE, especially like getting rid of annoying ads, unlike most paid speed-boosts which I often find faulty and unreliable. In fact, I might have made it considerably commercial-quality, in which I could be generous and sell this to all users free of charge. Gah! The problem is that I'm supposed to be malicious, so why would I actually make something amelioratory for anyone? There needs to be a catch to this program, but what? Hmm.."

Later, Terra came inside the lab, looking at Eggman's speed-boosting software. "What in tarnation is going on here?"

"Something you need now?" asked the doctor groggily. "You have 30 seconds."

"Why are ya makin' a program like this? Is it to get rid of my ads? I thought we were partners! What ya outta be doing instead is boycotting Tails' game and all the others!"

All of a sudden, Dr. Eggman thought an idea. A brilliant idea all thanks to the terrible tanuki. He responded while smiling, "Well, Terra, with the help of your programing skills, we'll be making a 'game-killing' virus disguising itself as a speed-booster. Here's how it will work: First, keep posting as much advertisements as possible. And following that, transform my latest program into a deadly malware, and then I will be convincing people to install it (name yet to be final) in order to get rid of the ads, and speed up their computers of course, all for a significant price.

"Uh, why speed up their computers?"

"Well, I got to sweeten the deal to convince as many villagers as possible! Anyway, (smiled) while they would enjoy all the benefits, all of the copies of Blades of the Rebellion would be infected to the point of eventually becoming completely unplayable. At first stage, there would simply be framerate issues as well as petty glitches. But in the next stage, bugs would soon build up, starting from screen distortion, hampered sounds, and compromised controls, to frequent freezes, automatic data losses, and permanent, absolute unplayability! Now this would be terrible especially for those who worked so hard in completing Tails' game. Thus, everyone would view him as a talentless game developer whose reputation would soon drop miserably."

The raccoon dog rubbed her hands. "Yes, I like that plan of yours! From the looks of it, Tails will finally pay for what he did to us, before he knows it!"

"Same here! Also, every other game would suffer the same fate, leaving only The Fast and the Fastor, which I have promised to fix straight on. And with no other game to play, gamers will be forced to buy your game, so that you'll gain enough money to buy a new home, and that I will be enjoying you serving me, and your game for myself. Though now that I think of it, I would be giving you more than I receive. So to make things fair, I am wondering if you as my fellow minion would kindly help me make a special chemistry experiment I have worked on for quite some time."

Terra pointed at him. "Only if ya keep all your promises, Eggman."

The doctor placed his right hand over his heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die. My evil plan shall remain intact as long as we work together." Then, he and the tanuki went to work, typing buttons and massively retooling the program for the worse. "Since this keyboard has those unique keys, I'll be guiding you in how to use them..."

Returning to my side of the story, in my room, I heard Sonic and Knuckles from outside, playing the three-handled guitar and drum set. They were pretty loud, but I was too busy with my social media to pay much attention.

"Hey, Tails!" cried the blue hedgehog, putting down his guitar. "You've been staring at that computer for too long! How about you grab your guitar, come out, feel the sunshine, and rock on with us Dude-itude? We can't have our latest concert with just one guitarist."

"We can, technically, but with only the two of us." replied Knuckles sarcastically.

I slowly got outside and slowly strolled to the duo. "Sorry, guys. Time won't wait and I got so much to do."

"But Tails," protested Sonic, "we planned this earlier, where you agreed that you join us starting this week!"

I responded sternly, "Well, sorry, but I will have to reconsider. Considering some unjust garbage I had to put up with, things can't go the way we planned."

"What unjust garbage?" asked Knuckles. "Now, that does sound unfair, because I was going to use the garbage can, when empty, as a hat for our album cover."

"I was referring to something else, but I won't say, since it's personal."

"Well, how are we supposed to know why it's holding you back?" asked Sonic. "We can't play with just me and Knux. Not only that, on the night after publishing the album, we have a concert!"

I answered indirectly, "It's something that only I can settle, Sonic. Now, I'm going to go get some rest, and then I will practice with you guys. Fair enough?"

"Feel free to get some shut-eye, then. But remember, we are willing to help you if you need it."

"Not cool, Tails," quibbled Knuckles, throwing his drumsticks to the ground. "Now we're going to fall behind schedule." His eyes began to widen. "Wait, what was our schedule again?"

"Let Tails rest, Knuckles," sighed the blue blur. "He needs it more than we think."

During my peaceless sleep, I had a surreal dream, one where I encountered the five main protagonists from Blades of the Rebellion. First, I was falling in a wormhole-like tunnel, where I met Horns the Owl, who would guide me to the light.

"Where am I!?" I screamed.

"Down the rabbit hole we go, my dear Tails," informed Horns, twisting his neck backwards, towards me. "We mustn't waste time now. Your allies are in grave danger, before you'll know it!"

And so we resumed falling, with floating sharp objects like swords, lances, and axes surrounding us, until we entered a light. There, we softly landed on a grassy ground and viewed the background, full of trees and ponds. And so I widened my eyes. "I think I recognize this place. Could it be Fluorite Forest, the first world?"

"Somewhere like that, dearie," hooted Horns, flapping in front of me. "This way, to the medical tent."

When we entered the tent, we saw Scion, Amoroso, Nucleus, and Bonnie, each lying in bed and recovering.

"Now, it looks like you are wondering," continued the albino owl, who spotted my surprised expression, "Why am I feeling fine now? Well, you already know that I am a healer, and that is why I'm taking care of these four now. They're- I mean, they were in critical condition."

"Was it because they were transformed into gothic objects?"

"As a disease given by a bully, one named TERRA."

I sniffled, "May I see the four then?"

"If you must."

I took a closer look at the rebels, whereas Scion wanted to have a word with me. He said weakly, "It's good to finally see you here, sensei."

"I'm sorry about what Terra did to you and everyone else, Scion. I promise that nothing like this will happen again!"

"It was not your fault in the first place." assured the cheetah. "You were just there to protect us. Thankfully, this incident is ending, but my instincts tell me that this war is far from over. Stay alert."

I clinched my fists and breathed heavily. "But what's she going to do next? I need to know!"

Amoroso replied, "I'm afraid the answer is unknown, Miles Prower. But please, do not run away. You still have enough courage to strike back. Work with your allies if you must. They can help you face those bloody attacks your enemy will bring, young chap."

"But I wanted to get away from it all and move on!"

"Ye cannot do that, matey!" objected a pointing Bonnie. "Do so, and it would only get far worse. Your enemy has returned. So no more bellyaching."

Nucleus added, "I know you can do this, wee yellow fox. If ya fall down, get back up. You have been through the same conflict long ago, so you are capable of facing it again."

Suddenly there was heavy rumbling; I went outside, and saw a huge, yet growing, electrified red cloud (shaped like Gaddago Fastor) quickly coming towards us. When we were engulfed, this was when I instantly woke up from the dream. Luckily, I knew that it was only a dream, while a strange one, so I took a deep breath and went back to work.

On the following evening, when I went back on my computer, I was similarly bombarded with Terra's ads, but MORE SO than before. After minutes of deleting them all, I went to my email and received a message from Zooey:

"I've heard that next week, you'll be playing with the Dude-itude, at your concert! With that said, I'm planning to get a ticket for a front row seat, for the best experience with you three. I know you'll perform great, so see you bad boys there! Love, Zooey."

Regardless of the letter, I remained hesitant to practice with Sonic and Knuckles, due to priority complications. As what I viewed to be a little more important, I met with my crew, once again via video calling, and discussed our development of the downloadable content for our game.

 _"_ _A little late you are, perhaps?"_ assumed an unamused Fingers.

"Sorry about that," I replied, "It's just that I was really busy getting rid of the ads set up by Terra. They kept coming."

 _"_ _That's understandable, Tails. You know, I just downloaded a special multi-purpose utility software that managed to banish all of her annoying ads, speed up my computer, clean up my disk, checked the overall health of my computer, and so on! It's called the 'Optimizing-Omelette'. Don't let the absurd name fool you, it appears to work perfectly, so may I recommend getting it?"_

"Hmm...it's worth a shot."

Immediately after the conversation with the crew, I typed up the website of Optimizing-Omelette where I was informed about the features: performance enhancements, virus prevention, keyboard shortcuts, and more, but best of all, specialized ad-filtering! Immediately, I downloaded the program there. After downloading, I installed it, and there came an icon, which was a gold silhouette of an omelette (hence the title) in a distorted-rainbow bubble. I double clicked it, and it opened a window, citing "Welcome to Optimizing-Omelette! You're one step closer to achieving an empire- I mean, your own empire of peace and productivity!" Below were buttons for all the features as cited in the website. However, I was looking forward to use the adblock, so I click its button, which sent me to a page where examples of ads were smashed by a red octagonal sign with a paw signaling "STOP,"followed by a catchphrase, _"Ads no more!"_

During my normal computer time, I was pleased that all of the advertisements, including Terra's, were finally gone for good; all that were left were empty spaces in each website. "Just look at...everywhere! It's so peaceful now. Hopefully, I won't be hearing from that bully again for a long time." Since then, my team I continued our development on our games' downloadable content.

Meanwhile, in Sonic's shack…

"Gee, I thought Tails promised to practice with us later, and it's later now!" exclaimed Knuckles, who then banged his drum dum tiss.

"Yeah, what the heck is up with him lately?" asked Sonic. "He's been too busy for us nowadays."

Relatively soon, I showed up, bringing my guitar, but looking a little tired. "Hi, guys."

The irritated hedgehog crossed his arms. "Okay, what took you so long, Tails? We were waiting for you to practice with us!"

"Sorry, Sonic. It's just that I was obligated to work with my team. They were really counting on me to do my part."

"Like if it's your only responsibility," he scoffed mildly. "Whatever, you're here now, so let's get started."

And so the three of us finally began to practice our music, though my performance was sort of...half-hearted, with my weak plucking. Though this was because I couldn't stop thinking about my game.

"See what happens when you procrastinate and get too distracted?" Sonic pointed out. "I know you play better than this! Bro, looks like you need to put your game aside."

"Not even I get this obsessed with...stuff," added Knuckles. "Sure, I'm gullible, but I don't repeat thoughts!"

I facepalmed quietly. "I shouldn't have let my emotions get of the better of me."

"What emotions?" asked the echidna. "Is laziness an emotion?"

"Well, you see, that game my crew and I had worked on was a tribute to my childhood memories along with some values I've learned, which was why I couldn't stop focusing so much on it. But if this is why I'm slowing you guys down, then I'm sorry."

Sonic continued, "Heck, you haven't been creating inventions lately. Furthermore, we didn't even know that you've been making Blades of the Rebellion for years. So that was what you've done during your break hours? How come you never told us a long time ago? Come on, we're your friends."

I didn't say a word about it, since I was afraid to go back to those frightening memories with the bully. So to push that topic aside for a while, I exclaimed, "You know what? Let's stop hesitating! Just keep practicing until we all play perfectly! For Zooey!"

"Wait, she's coming to our concert? Alrighty, then! For Zooey!"

I grabbed my guitar. "Ladies and... uh, ladies! Prepare for the bad boy musical stylings of... Dude-itude!"

"Hey, that's MY line!" growled Knuckles.

Since the rough beginning, we practiced a lot harder than ever, thanks to my sudden willpower. But was it because of Zooey's letter, my realization of my other responsibilities, or me avoiding sharing a painful personal experience to my friends? I couldn't figure it out, though for SURE, it was not because I was directly passionate towards our music. Anyways, while we were practicing in the same place, there came the day when Zooey came to visit us, without expectation.

"Hello, there!" she greeted. "Just want to stop by and see you three play. You used to be the Dreamboat Express, right?"

"Ugh, I always hated that name," scorned Sonic. "And that's why we're now called the Dude-itude."

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to offend you!"

"Nah, it's all good, Zooey. Now, want to hear our latest tune, 'Reach for the Stars?' It's coming to our newest album."

Zooey then met with me. "I'll be looking forward to seeing you at your concert soon, Tails. You look like you've been working quite a bit hard."

I replied, "Well, sometimes, if you're in a difficult situation, always find a way to pull it off." Soon, I gave her a free ticket to my concert. "Here's the front-row pass you wanted, just ahead of time."

She gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Wow! I could have gotten it myself, but otherwise, I'll have to bring you something in return!" What she sent me in return was a box containing three surrealistically textured rainbow bagels with frosting-flavored cream cheese and assorted sprinkles. Pink was strawberry, orange was orange (obviously), yellow was lemon, green was kiwi, blue was blueberry, and purple was blackberry, but each color had a noticeable hint of vanilla. "These types of bagels are exceptionally popular, so I decided to make them on my own. Now how about you share them to your band?"

"Sweet!" exclaimed Sonic, hustling and grabbing one of the bagels, and eating it. He continued with his mouth full, "Almost as good as a chili dog, I'm sure this little ring of colors is going to give me extra energy to play!"

"It's like unicorn food," added Knuckles, eating one of the treats, too. "The colors feel so right. No wonder why those flying horned horses always poop rainbows."

"Awkward…" sang the embarrassed hedgehog.

Then, for Zooey, we began to perform "Reach for the Stars," coincidentally in tribute of the colorful snacks. We all sang:

[...]

 _The sky with stars so bright,_

 _The colors feel so right,_

 _We never felt like this,_

 _We'll keep on running!_

 _The sky with stars so bright,_

 _The colors feel so right,_

 _Just take our hand,_

 _We're gonna reach for the stars,_

 _Tonight..._


	6. When All is Lost

After hours of practice, I came back home to revisit my development crew on my computer, though they didn't look very happy, at all. In fact, they looked kind of shocked.

 _"_ _So, where were you when we needed you, Tails!?"_ asked Tim angrily.

 _"_ _Don't you know that he's got a life?"_ argued Tom. _"Go easy on him!"_

"What happened?" I asked calmly.

Willabelle answered, _"You know how before then, Blades of the Rebellion was free of bugs and glitches? Apparently, it's the opposite now. During our break, each of us decided to play the game, and when we did so, there were glaring glitches. In my game time as Bonnie Bones, in the middle of the seventh level in World 6, it started with frame rate stutters on the boat racing segment, and later came color distortion and misbehaving controls during the mid-boss battle with that 'sharktopus' robot. It only got worse since then. We didn't know how this happened, but we know that this is bad. Like, really bad."_

"Have you checked the coding?" I asked.

 _"_ _I'm doing it right now, though I notice that there are some unusual symbols here and there. So far, there might be an easy fix, but I'm worried that it'd only be short-term. Anyway, we'll have to put the DLC aside now, I'm afraid."_

"Rats, I was looking forward to expanding our game."

 _"_ _Same here…"_

After a couple of days of assistance, when I came to the Unnamed Village (Yes, that is the official name), there showed up lots of angry fans bringing me numerous complaints, as they must have suffered the problems my crew had for unknown reasons.

"TAILS!" yelled one rude fan. "How could you!? Your game is now suffering from bugs and glitches! Fix them, or ELSE!"

"A while ago," added Foreman Fred, a.k.a. Earl, "I thought Blades of the Rebellion was healthy as a horse. (He facepalms) Boy, was I wrong."

Perci the Bandicoot added further, "Have you actually tested the game? Because I think it's not a very good strategy to release it just because it seems alright at first."

I instantly announced without ease, "I swear, my crew and I tested our game for weeks. There couldn't have been a way for Blades to be ill. But as of now, we're currently looking for a way to swat those bugs, and hopefully, we'll be done as soon as possible. We sincerely apologize for this strange incident!"

"And I thought my children enjoyed your video game," responded Lady Walrus, pointing at me, "I swear on my mother's grave, if they have to put up with those glitches for another week, I will be getting a refund from you, or maybe even worse! Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

After hearing more complaints, I quickly went back home and resumed helping my crew checking for the bugs, for as long as...several hours, and then a couple of DAYS more.

But one day, much to my distress, I encountered Terra again on Talk-a-Lot, where using a new account (that hasn't blocked me), she called me names and such:

 _"_ _Oh, no, have all of your fans hating on you, now that your game is broken, Fox Boy?"_

I typed, _"Why don't you just bug off and and leave me alone, you bully? Otherwise, explain what you've done to my game, now!"_

 _"_ _You freakish brat, I have done nothing to Blades of the Dipwads, not directly. But I'm here because I want to let you know that I'll be seeing your girlfriend, IN PERSON."_

"I swear, if you lay one finger to Zooey, I'll have annoying scumbags like you reported for picking on me and her!"

 _"_ _HEY! JERK OFF, YOU FURBALL! Mess with a troublemaker, and you're DEAD!"_ And after recklessly spamming an explicit and extended version of that comment on my profit like...TWENTY TIMES, without any censorship:

 _"_ _HEY! JERK OFF, YOU [...] FURBALL [...]! [...] Mess with a [...] troublemaker, and YOU'RE DEAD! [...]!"_

 _"_ _HEY! JERK OFF, YOU [...] FURBALL [...]! [...] Mess with a [...] troublemaker, and YOU'RE DEAD! [...]!"_

 _"_ _HEY! JERK OFF, YOU [...] FURBALL [...]! [...] Mess with a [...] troublemaker, and YOU'RE DEAD! [...]!"_

 _"_ _HEY! JERK OFF, YOU [...] FURBALL [...]! [...] Mess with a [...] troublemaker, and YOU'RE DEAD! [...]!"_

 _[...]_

...she left and began her scheme in her "unknown fake account," while I deleted her comments and blocked her second account.

Meanwhile, based on his interview, Dr. Eggman, wearing a white coat, began working on the chemistry experiment inside his laboratory, like what he planned earlier. "I thought Terra was going to be there to help me work on this formula," he sputtered, adding a drop of a purple liquid from his dropper. "If she decides to show up, I'll let her know that she's ten minutes late."

Unexpectedly, the raccoon dog showed up. "Howdy, dipwad! I done my job. Fans are mad at Tails now. Now where's that experiment ya workin' on?"

"Right here, and you're ten minutes late. Now go grab me that small brown canister full of thorium dioxide."

"Ya got too many brown canisters!"

The doctor pointed at the cabinet, "You see the one that says 'thorium dioxide?' Go get it!"

Terra grabbed the metallic container and lent it to him. "Now, gimme a hint on what that thing ya makin' is supposed to do."

Eggman slowly poured some ThO2 into the mix. "Something that'll make someone powerful and destructive. I don't know who to give it to, but if I lend it to the wrong hands, then everyone else would have a problem. A very big problem. Now, what were you doing, while I started?"

She smiled. "Oh, I was brainstorming my plan to have Zooey break up with Tails. Starting tomorrow, I'll go to Talk-a-Lot, take over Tails' account, and use it to ask Zooey to remind me of her location. Then, I'll find her house to see her in person.

"While framing is one thing, but don't you want to do a little more than that? It looks like you're the only one picking on him. Tell me, has he been stepping down?"

"For Pete's sake, I ain't got nothin' on 'em in person. He was like a rattlesnake who keeps livin' after ya chop him in half! Which is why I, as 'Tails,' asked if I could come to Zooey's house. I have a way for her to be breakin' up with Tails."

"That's no good...for her and Tails. And in regards of the Blades of the Rebellion recall..." Eggman then whispered a certain plan (which I'll reveal later to keep you readers engaged) in her ear.

"Great plan. I'll do it. It'll take me a long time, but it'll be worth it. But after meeting Tails' girlfriend."

And so she used that "alternative account," which was actually my account she just hacked (I didn't know that until then), and soon asked Zooey, "Hello! Tails here, and unfortunately, I forgot your location to your home. Could you please tell me what it is again?"

 _"_ _Um, okay. Say, why are you asking me now?"_

"...Oh, um, got a little short-term memory loss, after helping my crew with my game, that's all."

Not knowing who was using that account, Zooey gave that bully her home address. On the following day, Terra wore the same clothes she wore during the school days, arrived to my girlfriend's house, and knocked the door. Zooey opened the door and expected me there, but this was not the case. When she saw Terra for the first time, her jaw dropped, her heart began pounding, and her eyes widened, none in a good way. "Y-y-you!" Clearly, she couldn't believe her eyes. "So you were the one who pretended to be Tails, by hacking into his account?"

The raccoon dog stomped closer to her. "Ya better believe it l'il lady. It's me, Terra, your original girlfriend.

"I thought you died from a fire accident in a sanctuary, according to all the news!"

"Well, I managed to survive that fire and the collapse, thanks to my abnormality of sheer bulk."

"Why in the world are you here? There was a reason why we broke up long ago!"

The bully grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her. "It was a big mistake for you to ditch me, after we had our first kiss together. I thought we were supposed to be together!"

Zooey roughly pulled off her hand. "First off, you forced me to be with you. Secondly, I already have a boyfriend as of today! And third, I moved away in order to get away from you, after your controlling behavior!"

"And why do ya think I should've left you when when all those students labeled you as 'one of the prettiest ones' at school? Now, the actual reason why I'm here is to bring you the TRUTH about Tails Prowler."

"What do you mean? Tails is a nice fellow, and you have no right to hurt him!"

"Well, you know how Tails is so busy with his game? I'm telling you, Zooey, he cares more about that than you. Take the dinner as an example."

"You mean, our last date?"

Terra brought her laptop and showed Zooey every one of my exposed secret recordings. "I hacked into Tails' private video library and found out that he was talking to his crew during your date. You might think that is wrong, but I'm tellin' ya, he was double-crossin' ya! AND that's not all; he's been busier helping them than practicin' for his concert ya might attend soon. Trust me, he don't care nothin' 'bout 'cha, while he been buyin' your love, like bringing you an overpriced necklace, as a poor attempt to keep the boat floatin'!"

"Now, I'm starting to wonder why he brought his robot dog in the first place. However, this doesn't mean that I'm coming back to you, Terra. You're still not my girlfriend, after the way you've treated me."

"But one day, I'll be coming back for you. You'll need me again, by the the time ya break up with Fox Boy. Think about it…" After that, the ruthless beast slowly walked away, staring at the innocent vixen, who took a lot of time to think and locked herself in, to avoid both me and Terra.

Sometime later, I discovered that Zooey had blocked me on Talk-A-Lot, without any word. I didn't know why at first, but I assumed that Terra, while disguising herself as me and somehow harassed her. However, I checked her profile and the fraud's comments weren't there, so I couldn't find out what happened exactly. Nevertheless, I knew that the bully wasn't kidding when she said that "she'll be seeing my girlfriend and impersonating as me." Indeed, I was heartbroken that the bully would do something cruel like this, So I tried calling Zooey, explaining what had happened. "Zooey? It's me, the real Tails. My account on Talk-a-Lot was hacked by a bully, named Terra."

"It's true that she had been jerk to me in the past, but so were you."

"Wait, what?"

"She came to my house and told me a lot about you. Lately, you've been so busy with that game of yours, instead of spending enough time with me, or practicing with your friends! It's been at least five days, to be exact! And whenever you try to spend time with me, you don't really live up to it since all of our dates end with you focusing on something else! For example, in one date at the nightclub, after we danced for a short amount of time, you left me alone without saying anything because you spent the rest of the time trying to fix the DJ's equipment, only for it to backfire; because of you, those equipment burned in literal fire, and the night out got canceled for everyone. Why do you need to keep doing this to me as well as all the others?"

I could hardly think of anything to say about the five-day situation, since it was far from excusable. "Zooey, I'm sorry. It was just that-" And that was when she hung up on me. Later, I tried to call her again, but that was when I realized that she blocked my phone number. Heck, I didn't think that I would get stressed enough about my other current situations. It was dealing with the bully, practicing with Dude-tude, helping my crew fix our game, and now, winning back Zooey after neglecting time with her.

I might not have been able to talk to Zooey online ever again, so the last thing I tried to do was to revisit Zooey's house, but what I noticed on the door was a sign that said "gone fishing." I waited for a while, but by the time she came back, she resumed avoiding me. I tried to apologize once more, but she immediately shut herself in her house, and closed the curtains, retaining her stiff grudge for a VERY long time.

As a result, I became demotivated to either practice with Dude-itude, or help my crew address the bugs, in which they failed to do so anyway, despite days of work. So for most of the time, I lied down on my bed moping, letting my emotions get all the better of me. "What else could possibly go wrong?" I asked myself. While I remained aware of my priorities, without support, I felt weak and empty like if I was gradually losing everything.

And if you thought it couldn't get any worse, think again. When I went back to Talk-A-Lot and posted a comment regarding my negative feelings, my "fans" began to pick on me, delivering nasty insults and other kinds of hate comments.

 _"_ _No one cares about your girlfriend. I just came here to tell you that your game SUCKS!"_

 _"_ _You haven't fixed our game like what you promised, so why should we ever help you again now?"_

 _"_ _Your game no longer works AT ALL. Now get out of town, or else we will make you! I swear, I'll find and bring a pitchfork at you!"_

 _"_ _I'll kill that cash grab, Blades of the Rebellion, with fire if I have to!"_

 _"_ _Roses are red, violets are blue, dear Tails Prowler, WE HATE YOU!"_

"This is why you have no girlfriend. I hope you go bankrupt soon, you little yellow rat! That stupid fundraiser wasted our money big time and..."

And the 660+ upcoming comments only turned out to be far worse since the first six. I guess it was understandable that my crew and I failed to fix all the bugs and glitches, but I also got a good taste of the real world, where people aren't going to be very nice to you at all.

On the evening before the Dude-itude concert, Sonic made an announcement regarding my absence thanks to my downfall. "Listen up, ladies and gentlemen!" He continued calmly, "I'm afraid I'm here to inform you that Tails won't be showing up for the band. I might have some idea on why not, like spending time on game development, but whatever circumstance it is, you all need to understand. When you look at this way, there's no way we can rock on without a second guitarist. Otherwise, it'll be like the Three Stooges without the smart Larry. It won't be the same if we performed without him. We're very sorry for this."

However, the crowd were really desperate for the band's best performance, so they all chanted, "Rock on! Rock on! Rock on! Rock on!"

Out of high anxiety, Sonic whispered to Knuckles, "Yo, everyone here really wants us to play, after weeks of hype, even though we don't have Tails! There's no way we can it quits and just give them refunds, at this rate! What are we going to do?"

Knuckles whispered to the blue hedgehog, "Psst, I think we are able to play, just without one person. Also, it's not just our fans; the READERS might want more lyrics in this rather long story."

(Sighs) "Fine. As long as you're not referring to that cyborg snake, we'll simply wing it. But it still won't be the same without Tails."

Then, Sonic informed to the audience, "I guess we'll have to settle without Tails and see what happens…" And so the two decided to improvise by playing without me and sang:

[...]

 _Live and learn!_

 _Hanging on the edge of tomorrow_

 _Live and learn!_

 _From the works of yesterday-ay_

 _Live and learn!_

 _If you beg or if you borrow_

 _Live and learn!_

 _You may never find your way…_

Unfortunately, it really wasn't the same, especially for one certain person. Zooey, wearing a hoodie (to hide herself from Terra) temporarily overcame her woes (after several whole days) and came by, but she noticed how weak the the blue and red duo performed, with my absence from the stage. It was likely that she had some feelings for me, but I wasn't there to find out back then.

Welp, I've ruined pretty much everything. First, the bully, next, the buggy game, then Zooey, and now the concert. And in response to those nasty comments from my supposed fans, I immediately gave them refunds in person. Surprisingly, they were rather quiet and surprised in person, in contrast to their supposed anger on the internet. It might be that this was abrupt of me; I didn't really care though, because our game might have been nothing more than wishful thinking.

On the following bedtime, I had another dream, involved with the characters from Blades of the Rebellion. It began with me in some surreal mashup of all the worlds from my game, getting destroyed into nothing: meteors were falling from the sky, palaces and castles were violently burning and falling into the ground, complementing the unpredictable, yet rapid earthquakes, flowers and trees were quickly decaying into dust, burning floating ships were crashing down and sinking into the water full of high tide, and the assorted villagers around were running with prolonged panic. But what shocked me even more were all of my characters, who seem to be slowly pixelating and fading, while their ground was cracking into pieces. So I started running to them and fell with them, in hopes of catching them and then lifting them back up, though the landscape was quickly vanishing into nothing.

"Sensei!" Scion cried to me while falling. "Please help us!"

"It's no use, old chap," moaned Horns. "The damage has been too much to all of us."

"Where were ya when we need you, Tails?" asked Nucleus. "All this time, you've been holding yourself back. Now you've given up on us, yourself, and your girlfriend who broke up with you."

"Yes, I have!" I exclaimed with guilt while falling. "I let my feelings get the better of me. All the damage has been done, but now I'm here to save you guys!" Eventually, I noted that the five began to disappear, much to my devastation. I thought, "Now that I think about it, it's too late for me; there's really nothing I can do about it now."

"You still have a chance to reverse this...and then prevent everything else," replied Scion, before fading away into , time is one aspect you can't recycle, so take full advantage of what you have left."

Eventually, a colossal Fastor came towards the the five characters, electrocuted them until they became charcoal, and cackled with all pointy teeth showing before teleporting away. Finally, the place became nothing more than a void of despair; everything around me was just gone. In the end, I cried throughout the rest of this nightmare of mine, for my game and my girlfriend.


	7. When I Was A Cub

Sometime after the concert, Sonic and Knuckles lounged in Amy's house, moping on the couch. They knew their performance had received noticeably low ratings from our fans, no thanks to me. And if that wasn't enough, the two had decided that there wouldn't be anymore plans of throwing concerts or making albums, with no further ado.

A teary-eyed Knuckles whimpered to a chicken puppet on his right hand, "Why does life have to be so miserable without Tails nowadays?"

The puppet, voiced by the echidna high-pitched, replied, "Aww, don't be too sad, it'll get better soon, I promise." Then, it brought a tissue. "Here's something for you wipe your tears on."

"More like I need some fiber. I got dyspepsia from being so depressed," responded Knuckles, who then started eating the tissue.

A puzzled Sonic asked, "Uh, Knuckles? Why are you talking to another chicken?"

"I dunno. Anyway, it's all Tails' fault for not showing up for the concert! What was with him lately?"

Sonic rolled his eyes, "Well, I did get a call from some cute human named Willabelle, who worked as the beta tester from Blades of the Rebellion.

Knuckles simply sneered at him.

"...And yes, I said the word 'cute' because we used FaceTime where I learned what she looks like. (Sighs) Don't breathe my air, please, and the same goes to the readers. Anyway, she told me that Tails took a long break from fixing his game due to his girlfriend breaking up with him and being bullied by a cybercriminal once declared to be dead."

"What bully? Because no one messes with Tails! Give me the name, and I'll beat him up!"

"And yet, Tails didn't want to ask us for help for his situation. He has been secretive lately."

Amy informed with grief, "But now do we know about his girlfriend, Zooey, I'm really sorry to hear that the two broke up, despite the way we've all helped him. Many people know that love is like a glass heart that's easy to break, but difficult to repair, all regardless of who's responsible."

"Intruder alert!" shrieked a panicky Sticks, pointing at a hooded individual outside the window near the door. "Someone sound the alarm!"

By the time he/she arrived, the stranger softly rang the doorbell and stood as still as a tree.

Amy slowly opened to door to take a peak. "Who is it?"

The stranger replied with a calm and soft voice, "I mean no harm, but I'll tell you inside, since I don't want to get caught."

And so Amy permitted him/her to come inside. Next, the stranger took off her hood, in which the gang gasped in response. It was Zooey.

"Why were wearing that spooky hood of yours?" asked Sticks. "No one's going to recognize you that way!"

"To get away from my ex-girlfriend who had picked on me before faking her death. She's coming back to me soon."

"So, I hear that you broke up with Tails," cited Knuckles angrily. "Not cool, Zooey."

Amy asked politely, "I'm sure there's some explanation on what happened with you and Tails, though I notice that you're still wearing that rainbow necklace he gave you during your last date with him."

The vixen answered, "Alright, first off, I still love Tails, despite our rocky moments like his pretty disruptive talk with that dog-bot. It's just that he hasn't really been there for me lately, ever since he's been helping his crew with his game."

"Can't Tails ever catch a good break?" grumbled Sonic, crossing his arms. "He's been putting too much focus on it!"

"Well," continued Zooey, "Long ago, Tails gave me a copy of his special journal about his childhood as the reason for his present situation; I couldn't find time to read it, due to family issues. But right before coming here, I finally got to see all the pages, and they really made me see Tails in a new perspective." I have his documentary now, but it'd be easier for all of you if I explained how it all began, and why Blades of the Rebellion means a lot to him."

"Thought I remembered becoming friends with Tails when we were both kids."

"There's more to it than that." Zooey took a deep breath. "Alright, here goes. In the very beginning, when 'Miles' was born with two tails, his parents suggested that they take him to surgery to get his second tail removed. However, without health insurance, they couldn't afford to get him this treatment, which turned out to have risks of giving him complications like psychological problems. So instead, they had him cope with his abnormality, which turned out not to be easy at all. Particularly, since his first day of school, Tails was one of the biggest victims of bullying and teasing, despite being the best student in engineering."

"Hey, look we have here," laughed a young Terra, "A freak fox with two tails! And at the same time, a sorry excuse for a kitsune!"

"I say we pull out those tails, and see if we still get cursed," added another bully, who was the costumeless Tree Spy before he joined the Lightning Bolt Society.

"Please stop it! You're hurting me!" I screamed while the two were pulling my tails like if they were really going to pull them off. Immediately, I saw the tiger principal, who forcefully dragged the bullies straight to his office where he gave them referrals. I was so lucky that he saved my skin, so on the next day, in his office, I thanked him by giving him a small wind-up robot I handcrafted. The principal sincerely enjoyed it and soon told me, "Now, Miles, if anyone dares to attack you again, let an adult know, and he or she will be there to help. Anyways, thank you again for this toy you made, and I'll be looking forward to seeing you again with this talent of yours!"

"Thank you, Principal Stripestock," I responded.

A month later, however, Stripestock was replaced by a new hog principal, named Agen, whose personality clearly contrasted that of the previous; while the old principal was sympathetic, responsible, and caring, the new one was cold, neglective, and uncaring. With that said, he wasn't there for me when I got bullied by Terra and his gang again...and again...and again. Examples included flat feet, "kick-me's," and even destroying my inventions, which were actually school projects.

But in another month later, there came the time when the tanuki really crossed the line when she created a satirical public computer game, called Freak Chaser, that had a 'Fastor prototype' as the playable character and me as an gruesome antagonist for being a freak. Despite her cruelty towards me, Freak Hunter turned out to be exceptionally popular towards most of the students, who later joined Terra's bandwagon and despised on me.

"Get out of this school, Fox Boy!" exclaimed one student named Wolfie, shoving me. "No one wants mutants like you here!"

Another student, Wild Cat (he turned nicer in present day), shot a spitball at me in my head through a straw. "Next time, I'll spit gum at you!"

Welp, it was clear that I was not welcome at school whatsoever. But that wasn't the only place where people ridiculed me for my two tails, and in some cases, my size. At the ice cream parlor, the grouchy server harshly refused service to me, literally kicked me out, and instantly banned me from his shop, despite the fact that I never broke a rule. At the cinema, everyone stood far away from me, and when someone was being loud, I often got blamed for it, which was ironic when I tried to make sure all were quiet. At the convenience store, the shopkeeper charged me extra just because I "failed" to meet "my" height requirement; thus, I had to give up so many items to make the total price affordable.

One day during school, most of us saw a "blue blur" running around at the speed of sound. As my first time seeing Sonic, I got so enlightened that my tails started to swirl like a propeller, so I took the closest view and noticed that he was a hedgehog, which made me wonder how he ran so fast, in contrast to others of his species. Anyways, everyone cheered for him, who afterwards stopped and performed a windmill and then a somersault, ending with his index finger pointing out.

"Sonic's the name, and speed's my game," he said, smiling and winking. "Come see me at my crib in two weeks. You're going to like it there."

But before he left, I asked him without hesitating, "Say, how did you get your speed?"

"Oh, according to my doctor, I was born with an extremely high content of those blue glowing 5P3-3D cells, a.k.a., "tachocytes." And with them, I can rev up and tackle bad guys in less than a minute. Remember, if you're born different, put good use of your different strengths. Anyway, gotta run! Ciao!" And so he sprinted away, so fast that he blew the grass and flowers.

After meeting that blue hedgehog, this was when I began hunting for others with abnormalities. I had the idea that I wouldn't be the only one being different, and that teaming up with them would do well in showing how worthy we were, so I took the time to write a plan. First, I would carefully observe all the students including my classmates and asked them to see if any of them were in my same category. "Say, what makes you physically unique?" I politely asked Dave (before he worked at Meh Burger).

He answered coldly, "Dude, I don't care about that, and I never wanted to answer to a deformed loser like you. Now get lost."

If that failed (and it actually had indeed), then I would do the same in the rest of the town. But no matter how hard I tried, it was nearly impossible to succeed this way either. It turned out, I might have been nothing more than a lost cause. I felt as if there would be no one suffering the same situation I had...until that day when I saw some sanctuary near the meadows…

When I arrived to the sanctuary, I slowly knocked the door and waited as patiently as a dog. But after less than three seconds, the owner opened up. It was a 12-year old human girl.

"Why, hello there, and welcome to the Oddity Oasis! My name is Willabelle, and my goal is to help individuals with abnormalities cope with prejudice from the society. What's your name?"

"I'm-I'm Miles Prowler."

Willabelle giggled, "Miles Prower, kind of like 'miles per hour.' Why don't come inside? Don't worry, I won't bite."

I went inside the Oddity Oasis, and boy, was I so much happier than I was before then!

The human girl continued, "Here in this club, we all have our own distinct mutations whether it's extra body parts, shapes, sizes, or internal genetics. Even I have a mutation, which is, flexibility. I rarely put full use to it, but how about you stay back a bit, and I'll show you?" As I backed up, Willabelle bent her left leg forwards and used it to wrap her neck around.

I gave her some applause. "Neat!"

"Recently, it seems that most of us have 'superpowers!' Well, potentially." Then, she announced to the gang with enthusiasm, "Attention, everyone, I would like you all to meet our latest guest, Miles Prowler! He's got two tails, and I think he looks two times cuter like this!"

There, the freak animals all clapped at me with pleasure. And when I looked around, I finally found proof that I was far from the only one; I saw members with distinct features, including a monkey with six-fingered hands, a two-headed turtle, and a four-eared cat.

"Greetings, old chap," said the monkey, shaking my hand. "The name is Fingers."

"Hiya, Miles!" added the cat, shaking my hand as well. "I'm Mic, hence my ears."

"I'm Tim!" shouted the left head of the turtle.

"And I'm Tom," whispered the right head.

"It's so nice to meet you all!" I responded with joy. "For a long time, I've been searching for people with the same problems as I have, which was getting bullied for looking different."

"And that's why you're here now!" replied Mic. "To prove to everyone the good in your abnormality. Take my EARS (points at them) as an example. Twice the pair, twice the hearing power."

"With two heads together, we team-up forever!" added Tim and Tom.

As I got more and more interested in their advantages, my two tails started to spin slowly."

Fingers pointed at me. "Um, Miles, your twin tails seem to be twirling, almost like a fan."

"Oh," I responded." I do that whenever I get excited about something, though this is rare."

"Say, why don't you think of the most exciting moment that you can remember?" He suggested with curiosity, hoping that my tails would spin faster."

"Uh, sure, I could do that." I began to think. "Let's see...One of the most exciting moments I could think of is the time when I saw Sonic the Hedgehog for the first time." And that triggered a moderate boost in my spinning tails.

"Wait, you saw Sonic the Hedgehog!?" gasped Mic. "Like, he's the ultimate archetype of an animal with one-of-a-kind traits! I've heard that he could outrun a race car in its top speed in just under three seconds! Plus, there was the time when he sprinted on an ocean without sinking! And did I mention that he defeated an evil scientist named Dr. Eggman!?"

As I became overwhelmingly excited, my tails began spinning so fast, that I...began to fly, like a helicopter.

Willabelle widened her eyes with astonishment. "Dude, you're flying. I think this could only mean one thing..."

"That I found my secret ability!" I cheered, before landing. "Now I just have to learn to master it, which can take a while, but it'll be worth it."

The girl rested her chin on her left hand. "Say, based on your certain trait, how about we call you...Tails?"

"Has a good ring to it, so why not?"

"Sounds great! From this day forward, we'll be calling you 'Tails Prowler!' And that marks the beginning of your new membership!"

I bowed. "Thank you so much for letting me stay here. I'll do my best to get along!"

On the following day, Fingers, Mic, and Tim and Tom became new students and my classmates since they've heard about what had been going on at school. So whenever we were together, we were pretty much impenetrable. Every time when one of us got bullied, another of us would fight back. For instance…

"Hey, look what we have here!" exclaimed Terra, while grabbing the arm of her girlfriend Zooey. "More freaks! I'll tell everyone else!"

"I HEARD THAT!" shouted Mic from our distance. Then he retracted his claws. "How about I give you a good swiping to shut you up?"

"This ain't over. Let's go, L'il Zooey." Then, the tanuki, Zooey, whose arm was held tight by the former, and her gang quietly walked away and left us alone.

Outside school, we managed to get through the mean residents; for instance, when two guys stole Tim and Tom's backpack, I went after them and endured a game of Monkey in the middle, where I was the monkey. Luckily, I had the advantage as revealed from yesterday, so I spun my twin tails and catched the backpack one of them threw in the air. Of course, the bullies got angry in which they chased us until they got exhausted, but nevertheless, the turtle got the property back, thanks to me.

But on online on the school computers, one area that we couldn't prevent were Terra's new Freak Chaser games, and later, her tie-in comic books, all which despite their lackluster quality, additionally gained extreme popularity for our derogated portrayals. Yeah, I did said OUR, as in, I wasn't the only one anymore; my new friends served as villains in each of her latest works.


	8. The Odd Guardians

Back to present day, Sonic asked Zooey, "So, how long exactly did it take for Tails and his crew to make Blades of the Rebellion?"

"Well, Sonic, that's currently debatable, but there was a 'prototype' of that game published to his school before it became fully-pledged. Originally, it was called 'The Odd Guardians.'"

"Aw, man," groaned Knuckles, "Wish I could go back in time so I could see how 'The Odd Guardians' played; would've been great."

"Well, to be logical," responded Amy, "while it dethroned Terra's games as the most popular, it wasn't entirely fleshed-out if you compare its gameplay to that of BotR, though it had a similar theme during its time. Trust me, I was there in school along with Tails."

As Zooey returned to the story…

"It's about time we prove ourselves worthy to Terra and all those "normal" students, so our plan was to create a video game of our own," I declared. And in addition to my training from my computer programing class, my new friends cited that they had a lot of experience with video games and programing, though that was yet to be proven.

"One small question," asked Willabelle with the lack of ease. "How do we make our game if we don't have any computers?"

I answered, "Willabelle, do you have a toolbox and spare parts, like keyboards, television sets, engines, pipes, wires, or paperclips?"

"Well, I have all of those in the storage room, though I doubt they work now."

"I think they'll do just fine!" I exclaimed while heading to the said room.

She couldn't believe me at first. "Really?"

In just an hour, with all the required supplies I collected, I managed to construct working computers for each of my crewmates, whose jaws just dropped out of astonishment.

"Well! Since you're only a cub, I'll be a monkey's uncle…" said Fingers.

After I finished building the machines, we started using them immediately (though their startup took a while, like seriously, it took ten minutes to load) and began development.

"So any ideas for our first game?" asked Mic. "I'm all ears."

"Well," barked Tim, "We could try an action platformer game..."

"Or a role-playing game," mellowed Tom.

"Well, an action platformer gets your adrenaline pumping!"

"But an RPG's got story, character interaction, and upgrades."

"I say action platformer!"

"I say RPG."

"Action platformer!"

"RPG."

"Why not both, Tim and Tom?" I suggested, preventing the two from bickering. "It would be a win-win."

"But Tails, if we're going to combine these two genres," advised Fingers, "We'll need to put a twist, to the point that we'll outshine that bully's series of satirical games."

"Fingers, are you sure that what we learned during our game development class are enough?" I asked with concern.

"It's been four years since we've developed our skills there. If there's a will, there is a way. All we need is a special ingredient."

Mic's ears rose, "How about vehicles, like cars, boats, and planes?"

Fingers placed his hand on his chin. "Intriguing, but needs to be simplier. Anything else?"

"A gauge system? Who doesn't like powered-up attacks?"

"Already invented."

"Jet packs?"

"Already taken."

"Health-restoring food?"

"That's taken, too. Also, it's too basic."

"Balloons? Cannons? Spring poles? Ziplines? BOUNCE PADS!? There are so many to choose from!"

When I thought about the "special ingredient," the first thing that came to my head was that blue hedgehog who saved me from the bully when we first met. "Well, do you remember Sonic? Like what Mic said, he's known for running really fast. In fact, he reminds me of speedrunning in some platforms I've been playing for some time."

"Maybe that is what we need!" gasped the monkey. "Speed!"

Mic added, "Yeah, hardcore gamers gotta go fast when it comes to platforming, even in RPG platforms!" (points at himself) "Now, how about a cookie for this genius here?"

"I'm the genius here, actually," I disputed calmly, with my eyes narrowed. "So don't I get a cookie?"

"Like director, like friend," sighed Fingers.

Afterwards, we discussed the character designs, which happened to be pretty straightforward on paper, but tricky to develop.

"So what should our characters look like?" questioned Mic.

I tapped my head with a finger. "I am thinking right now."

"Well, you know any animals that are fast, like Sonic?"

"Hmm, there are cheetahs, which can run 68 to 75 miles per hour, and peregrine falcons, which are said to fly 200 miles per hour! Also, there are black merlins and horse flies that move really quick, too."

"But not all fast animals are built for fighting!" argued Fingers. "Keep in mind that we are designing a game with ACTION; mindless speed isn't everything. However, a cheetah or a falcon would be fine. Other than that, it would be nice if we had characters who focus more on strength, range, or balance."

While we resumed thinking, I looked around, and that's when I saw Tim and Tom holding cards with pictures of hybrid animals. Then, I asked them, "Are you into mixed offspring, you two?"

"Well, hybrids do look cool, that's all," answered Tim.

"You mean, chic," countered Tom.

"No, I mean cool!"

"No, it's chic."

"Cool!"

"Chic."

"May I see them, after you're done arguing on how you should call them?" I asked. "They look both cool AND chic."

The two-headed turtle lent me the deck of cards. "Alright, here you go!" said Tim. "What good is collecting cards when you don't share them?" added Tom.

I took a look of the hybrid animals, and boy, did those illustrations look amazing. There was a liger, a enlarged cross between a lion and a tiger known for being stronger than both of its parents, and some zebroids, (offsprings from a zebra and a horse, donkey, or mule), as well as a grolar bear (grizzly bear + polar bear) and wolf hybrids. "I say we'll do with a liger. They're known to be the second fastest land mammals in the world. With that said, they would have the strength advantage over cheetahs, which makes me think..."

"So we'll be making three characters: The cheetah would be the speed-type, the peregrine falcon would be the flight-type, and the liger would be the power-type," Fingers pointed out. "Fascinating. Though if we want to stay true to "abnormal animal" theme, the cheetah would be the 'king' variation with the blotchy spots and three vertical stripes on its back. How would that sound?"

I brought a thumbs up. "Great idea."

Finally, as my favorite aspect, we focused on the story, which was to be inspired by our most noticable personal experiences.

I suggested, "Hmm, perhaps the story could focus on the topic of prejudice and discrimination, but how?"

Willabelle answered carefully, while stretching, "I think gameplay should matter more than plot, but if you really want that, then do something easy to comprehend. Perhaps the plot could focus on a villain trying to turn innocent mutants into mindless savages under his control, and that the protagonists would have to defeat him and then clear the mutants' names. What do you think?"

"I think that should make sense! We just need to flesh it out a bit, though the details could take time."

It took us a couple of months of hard work to complete our game, eventually entitled "The Odd Guardians," but this also meant giving enough quality to outmatch Terra's games and earn equality with those other students at school. By the time we published it on Christmas, the first one who got to play it was a green sailor fuku-wearing Amy, whose nickname was "Rosy the Rascal" during this time.

"That's a sweet game you got here on your web," she complemented, checking the game on one of the laptops in the computer lab. "How long it take you to make this?"

"A pretty long time, Rosy," I answered, "but in the end, it was all worth it. Feel free to play it right now!"

"Thank you so much!" And so she played the first level, as Cheater the Cheetah, the speed-type. When she was finished going through all the platforms and tackling all the enemies, she called all her friends. "Girls! You have to play The Odd Guardians. It's so much better than Terra's lousy games that hurt the feelings of Tails and his friends!"

The part where "Rosy" dissed that bully made me feel a lot better, especially after everyone had picked on me during her 'reign of prejudice.' And if it was good enough that Amy's friends likewise enjoyed our game, even more students all over the school began to play it, though most of them didn't know who made the game until they saw me and my crew holding sheets of our concept drawings.

"Dude," asked Dave, pointing his laptop's screen, "Did you make this game?"

"Yes," I answered coldly. And then we quietly walked away.

"Wait, come back!" he begged. Then, he took a deep breath. "First off, I'll be one to say how sorry I am, for hating on you in the first place. I don't care anymore if you have two tails unlike everyone else, what I care more is how well you perform and what you make. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your works, whether it's machinery, hardware, or software."

I shed a tear and then smiled. Not much later, everyone, even Principal Agen were cheering for all of us. However, some people were exceptions, especially Terra, who decided to ditch school on this day.

In the evening, on a video website we watched, she had recorded a long clip of herself in her room, throwing a nasty fit of rage and smashing toys. _"...NOT EVEN MY FREAK CHASER COMICS ON THE INTERNET CAN HOLD NO CANDLE AGAINST THAT FOX BOY'S FILTHY GARBAGE OF A GAME I SWEAR, I WILL FIND HIM IN ODDITY OASIS AND KILL HIM FOR STEALING MY THUNDER, TONIGHT!"_ And her segment ended with her brutally tearing apart some creepy fox doll (looking like me) with a metal rod on its head, and then punching her camcorder's lens, leading to static. On the second portion of the video, her gang were carrying bats and clubs and saluting to their leader in some abandoned warehouse."

Especially when she somehow found out about where I stayed, I was left terrified of what she would do to me, and at the same time, it was quite difficult for believe that she would abduct me. Nevertheless, everyone in Oddity Oasis were aware of the danger towards me.

"Tails," informed Willabelle with heavy anxiety, "Go upstairs, get inside the furthest closet, and lock yourself in." When she turned to everyone, "For the rest of you, have the strongest abnormal Mobians on guard duty outside, and then lock all the doors and shut all the windows, with curtains closed! Beware of Terra and her gang. They are not to be taken lightly."

On the following hour, while I locked myself in the closet, I heard some loud punches, biting, and beating outside the sanctuary; I couldn't tell whether who was winning, the guards, or Terra and her gang, but it was revealed that the latter won when I heard wood violently smashing and glass thoroughly breaking. Then, with their sticks, they smashed everything in their path, whether it'd be antiques, tables, chairs, or doors. Next, after destroying every nook and cranny within half an hour, Terra used her bare fist to break open my closet's door and thus, find me inside. After that, she shoved a sack over my head and started to kidnap me, but before leaving, she ordered to the gang, "BURN this house down to the ground! I want every freak of nature left without any form of hope!"

The gang set their sticks burning with the fireplace in the main room and threw those weapons on the floor, causing the fire to quickly spread across the already ruined house.

"(coughs) Everyone out of the sanctuary, at all costs!" Willabelle shouted to her members, evacuating in panic. Then, she faced Terra, carrying me unconcious. With a furious look, she growled, "You led this, you FILTHY MONSTER! Frickin' fricks like you seem to have picked on innocent victims for a long time, but this...act of terrorism truly crosses the line!"

Terra cackled, "Your new friend never should've done too much with his game! And if a freak with gigantism and rapid muscle growth disorder like me had to suffer for so long, so does all the other freaks!" Suddenly, huge bars of burning wood collapsed on top of her, presumably crushing her bones. I got released from her hands, while I was still unconscious.

"Tails!" Willabelle cried. The human girl ran to pick me up, but it was too late when one of Terra's henchmen, Willy Walrus, caught me first.

"For Terra!" he declared with hysteria. Then, he threw a green smoke bomb to hide himself and ran off, continuing the seizure.

On the next morning, in that rusty warehouse, when I slowly woke up, I saw myself tightly tied up on a wooden pillar, with Terra's "evil" gang surrounding me.

"Rise and shine, Fox Boy, or should I call you the game killer?" chuckled Willy with his arms on his back. "It's time to avenge Terra, by showing off our darkest side of our group.

And they did so by putting me various forms of torture. First came full body tickling with black feathers while my arms and legs were tied in ropes; initially, while laughing, I thought it didn't feel serious that they would do something like this, but as it got longer, it became increasingly painful to the point where I began wailing teary-eyed.

If the tickle torture wasn't enough, the next phase was only worse; the bullies hung me upside down and wore boxing gloves to punch me in the face and torso multiple times, with each hit bringing me a lump bigger than the last.

"This is fun!" giggled one of the punching bullies, who was a blue weasel. "Tewwa (Terra) wouwd've wiked this kind of punching bag; Miwes (Miles) is pewfect fow wewieving (relieving) stwess.

Then came more forms of despicable torture: scaring me with zombie clown masks, splashing me with black, icky tar from buckets, stuffing gross bugs like beatles and cockroaches in my mouth, and hitting me with prickly cacti stolen from a garden, but the last phase was among the worst of them all; they thrusted black electric shock prods at me to electrocute me real good. As I got shocked by hundreds of volts, I started screaming like I never had in years.

Outside, Sonic the Hedgehog was running on the road until he suddenly heard me screaming in pain, with the bullies laughing. "Holy guacamole, someone's in danger! Better do something about it, and fast!" And so he ran all the way to the warehouse, the source of our sounds, ran up to the top, and used a homing attack to break through one the glass windows _(KSSSSTH)_ , and that was when he found me tortured by the gang. "Hey! Leave that fox alone! You've got no right to pick on anyone below your size!"

"Sonic the Hedgehog? What's he doing here?" gasped Willy Walrus. Turning angry, he ordered everyone, "Get him!"

The gang charged towards him with their prods, but the blue hedgehog managed to spin jump and perform a homing attack to all the members, one by one. _POW, POW, POW, POW... T_ hey got back up and threw old wood at him, who jumped again and performed various aerial kicks to project back all the wood towards them. _BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG..._ It was a considerably long battle between Sonic and Terra's gang, but in the end, the latter immediately ran away screaming.

"I always HATED your blue arms!" sputtered Willy, while scramming.

After the fight, Sonic gasped when he saw me severely injured and tied up, so he untied me and gave me a hug, while I was whimpering and panting out of my trauma. "It's okay, little buddy, I'm here now. Everything that had happened is over."

"My friends lost their home because of me," I sobbed. "I never should've come here in the first place!"

Sonic carried me outside. "It wasn't your fault, kid. In fact, you never deserved any of this. Terra is known for her extreme reactions to situations like this. You were only trying to help you and your friends cope with this supposingly uncaring outside world."

"What happened to my friends now? And what about Willabelle?"

He stopped by at the collapsed house, being inspected by the police and firemen. "They're alright now, but I'm not sure if I could say the same about Oddity Oasis, which was a very niche sanctuary known by very few people, besides Terra, before she...sort of died. Chances are, that place doesn't have the funding or the support to be rebuilt, I'm afraid. I just hope every single one of those members, whether an animal with extra parts or abnormal proportions, or a hybrid, can keep calm and carry on with their lifestyles, with or without the need of a support group."

"I hope so, too. Anyway, for some reason, I have this strange feeling that Terra is still alive, somehow and somewhere..."

Later, we decided to take a stroll in the meadows, where I took the time to recover from my injuries, like plucking out all the cactus needles and washing away the tar in the lake. It took a while, but it didn't take too much until Sonic asked, "Say, champ, what's your name? Because I sorta forgot about that earlier."

"Miles Prowler. But my friends call me Tails."

"I'll call you Tails; it really suits those two tails of yours. Anyway, I'm hoping to find myself a sidekick, you know, one that's really smart and almost as fast as me. Hmm, perhaps you'd be the perfect candidate, that is, if you want to come with me."

As this was a pleasant surprise, I instantly answered, "Definitely; I would love to join you, Sonic!"

"Awesome, dude, you're officially my partner now! Now, what do you say to rev up and look for those interesting friends of yours? I'm hoping that you'd all reunite and then make one more brilliant game."

"That would be sincere! Thank you, Sonic, for the support!"

"Played The Odd Guardians, and it gave me quite a powerful message about accepting all variety of appearance. Now, Tails, on your mark (crouches)...get set...GO!" And so the two of us ran fast (though I technically flew with my spinning tails), on the search for my friends: Fingers, Tim and Tom, Mic, and especially Willabelle, who had been the most deeply caring friend to me and the others.


	9. Now What?

Returning to present day…

"Now I remember," Sonic pointed out with surprise. "I saved Tails from those bullies, who became the Lightning Bolt Society later on."

A weeping Knuckles wiped his tears and sloppily blew his nose with a napkin. "That was the most...deep story I've ever heard!"

"Don't you mean the 'deepest?'" corrected Amy, with narrowed eyes.

"I don't care, I just want to cry!"

Then, Zooey started to confess, "I guess I shouldn't have been so hard to Tails in the first place. He's a sweet guy, and maybe I should've understood him a little more."

"No wonder why Blades of the Rebellion meant so much to him!" exclaimed Sonic. "It paid tons of homage to his past: his friends, The Odd Guardians, and the teamwork of diverse characters in Blades of the Rebellion." All of a sudden, he began to think. "So, I think it's time I give Tails a little hand, despite how he kept this part-time game-making job as a secret for the most part."

"I could help out, too," responded Amy. "I have a Talk-A-Lot account, so maybe I could check out what had happened with him recently. Let's do this."

While Sonic and Amy began to use their computers to investigate the cyberbullying scandal, at home, I decided to move on from Blades of the Rebellion and instead play other games that I had, like Brain World, 4096, Sevens, Construct-a-Chain, and Too Wrong to Be Right. As it shocked me, all of the those games turned buggy and glitchy until they became completely unplayable, similar to what happened to my game. "Wait a minute, what just happened?" For each game, I rapidly tapped every button on my keyboard. "Not a single one of these are working!" I groaned after that. I couldn't figure out what was really going on exactly, neither could my online friends when I called them:

"Do you have a minute, guys?" I asked. "I wanted to play some other games, but…"

"Let me guess, all the other games are getting infected?" answered Willabelle. "Felt your pain when I tried to play Mighty Bomb, only for it to close down. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the cause of the situation, despite our hard inspection!"

"You know," replied Mic, with his eyes closed, "It was bad enough that someone, whose name starts with 'T' and ends with 'A,' made another account to re-submit those ghastly recolors of Tails' drawings…and even used them to sell T-shirts."

"I'm telling you, that girl is an IDIOT!" yelled Tim, with his mouth wide open.

"You know what, I had it!" I scoffed, banging my desk. "Everything we've done has been hopeless. Someone stole and defaced my art, our game got incurably buggy, I lost Zooey, I failed to attend my concert, I had to give every fan-turned-troll refunds, and now, this! Let's give up already. Now, I'm just going to watch TV to finally get my mind of this wild goose chase. Tails out."

"Whoa, you still haven't been yourself, Tails," informed Tom with widened eyes. "I know you're so upset, but keep in mind that we all have our bad times, right?"

On the television, while slouching, I was hoping to watch the Comedy Chimp Show, but I stood up straight when as a surprise, what I got were the breaking news, hosted by Soar the Eagle:

"Attention, all gamers! At all costs, check your computers for any form of malware. Despite the support of the viral Optimizing-Omelette, there have been numerous complaints of every PC game being overwhelmingly infected by some powerful virus from a particular unknown source! Also, being connected to the Blades of the Rebellion recall, the Talk-A-Lot admins have been taking an investigation and discovered that many fans' accounts have been hacked by a crazy cybercriminal, who used all those stolen accounts to harass the creator, making it seem like if those fans were being particularly obnoxious. In all, this has been a troubling event when it comes to gaming." Visuals had included footages of various games glitching as well as images of the real users' complaint letters to various game developers and screenshots of the hackers' comments on the social networking service.

"Whoa, just whoa!" I gasped, dropping the remote. I never thought I'd see the day when I realized that it wasn't my fault that there was something wrong with my game. After all these days where I got so worked up about myself…

Meanwhile, in Eggman's lair…

"Ya know, you had a doggone brilliant idea to have MORE people pickin' on him," Terra complemented to the doctor. " After all, Tails had gotten blamed for makin' a bad game. With my outside perspective on Tails' game, hackin' other people's accounts was genius! The work ain't no picnic at all, but I'm dadgum proud of it!"

"And now all the other games besides Tails' have been gone kaput, especially when we put our teamwork to my program!" chuckled Eggman, rubbing his hands. Furthermore, it looks like according the statistics, everyone is now buying your game that I just improved for you, like squashing those bugs and glitches, and adding your crude drawings of Tails and all your gruesome recolors.

"Wait, they are?" Terra looked up her old scallop laptop and saw the number of downloads on her the top left of her website, which was 10,000+. "I think I'm going to be rich!"

"I say we've done a great job together, now that all the gamers are forced to buy The Fast and Fastor, as the 'only' working PC game in the world; soon, you'll be getting enough money to get yourself a new home, while I'll be celebrating my revenge on Tails, starting with cake and balloons. And don't forget what you'll do for me... "

Meanwhile, in the following afternoon, at Sonic's shack…

"After breaking a little bit of codes, I found Terra's secret account and gave her a REAL piece of my mind," said Amy, clenching her fist. "Though I'm surprised that everyone else was too afraid to speak up against her... Oh, and after watching the news, I begin to wonder: before that popular Optimizing Omelette program was released, all those games worked perfectly fine, even without "speed boost" enhancements. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Yeah," replied Sonic, scratching his back, "I've noticed that too. When I think about it, what if something 'good' actually comes with a price? Now we're starting to come up with a theory. For me, I felt like I didn't need it since I rarely use the internet, compared to how often I play games, which actually run well for me today."

"That seems so bizarre to me!" gasped Sticks, covering her mouth. "Now we have to see if Optimizing Omelette really is the culprit of that game massacre! Might be run by an evil artificial intelligence, who knows?"

A few minutes later, I showed up, bringing my laptop. "Hi guys, since we don't have any other games to play, what we'll be playing is something unspeakable. Costed $60, if you count the in-app purchases, including access to controls, mandatory items, and individual paid levels."

"It can't be," replied Amy with terror.

"It is, The Fast and the Fastor DX. Despite with the last word suggests, I'm expecting it to be...bad."

And this was the time when we started to play this "M-rated" blatant rip-off of our game, far cruder than oil.

Surprisingly, despite a massive amount of stolen aspects from various 2D games (especially mine), such as the assorted backgrounds and recolored characters the gameplay and the controls turned out to be high-quality, being all smooth and fluid, though all the elements of combat were used from my game. Moreover, the music were reverted to their normal states, no longer being extremely high-pitched. But, once we saw all those obscene hate pictures (including the crude recolors) towards me, my abnormal old friends, and my game, this was when I decided to close my laptop for us to stop playing. " Eh heh, heh, heh, heh...I'm dying of laughter," I snickered sarcastically, before frowning. "Never shall we play that abomination again."

"How could anyone do things to you like this?" A shocked Amy asked me.

Yet, at the same, it was hard to believe that the bully had all the skills to polish The Fast and the Fastor. Then, we were left wondering if someone was working with her at some point.

"Meanwhile," Sonic continued, "regarding that computer enhancer's unusual name, omelettes remind me of their main ingredient, eggs, and...eggs remind me of the name of Dr. Eggman." Suddenly, he began to realize. "What if he was the ONE who made this Optimizing Omelette scam as a ploy to destroy all of the games?"

"When you put it that way," replied Amy. "there isn't any other person would be capable of doing something cruel like this."

"I'll head to his lair to see if he's responsible for all of this. That way, we can have him create an antidote to reverse the damage caused by that malware, whether his or not."

"What do I do?" I asked.

"If you want, Tails, you can come join me, and we'll encounter Eggman together."

Meanwhile, at Eggman's lair, Terra was taking the time to come up with an even deeper idea beyond what she and Eggman had done. But this was also the time when the two began to separate. "Say, Eggward, w'all really good at creating malware to gain all the power we want. So, what if we spend the time to make a NEW malware to rob banks?"

"Aren't you getting all the money you need to buy a new home?" Eggman pointed out. "Besides, what's in it for me, besides the fact that you'll become my minion? Terra, I'm starting to realize that your purpose has been using me, for this whole time."

The tanuki slowly marched and looked closer at the old man. "Hoo, boy, here's the thing: I actually do not want to be your FULL-TIME minion. I'm also gonna take your potion ya asked to help ya make. Moreover, we ain't even gonna 50-50 partners. (points at him) It's gonna be YOU who's gonna be my minion from this day forward. Y'all gonna help me make a malware that will rob banks, steal other's personal information, AND help bring back Nominatus, who will serve me by controlling every people's stuff for ME!"

The doctor was so shocked that his mustache turned straight and stiff. "Wait, you've heard of Nominatus? Oh, heck no, neither of us not bringing him back, after how he betrayed me by controlling my robots! Besides, it would take so long to create a malware to do all the things you want it to do!"

The raccoon dog grabbed his neck, smiled, and started to choke him. "Liar, I've heard of brilliant people making those in only the length of high scole time! Refuse, and I'll break your neck like a toothpick. Remember that I treat my abnormalities like strengths, BIG TIME. AND remember my story of how I overcame those others of my own kind who fun of my size?"

"Hey, what on earth are you DOING WITH OUR BOSS!?" shouted a shocked and sweating Cubot, showing up along with Orbot. "You're a monster, I'm telling you! We never should've trusted you in the first place!"

"You don't say nothing about me, you rusty runt!" roared the reddened and steaming Terra. "One more word about me, and you're NEXT!"

"...I...remember…your..story..." gagged Eggman, turning blue in the face while attempting to pull away the beast's hand. "...Terra. ...Please...don't...hurt..me…I'll...do whatever you want..."

"Good." Terra let go of the doctor's neck and left him coughing. "Now let's get to work! I want it done in five hours!"

Four and a half hours later, Sonic and I finally showed up right outside the lair, where we rang the doorbell of the entrance door, which consequently led Terra to believe that the police were coming.

"Gosh dang it!" yipped Terra. "It's the police! They are out to arrest me! (Turns to Eggman) Eggward, you dipwad slave, keep working on that dadgum malware or else, while I find the secret exit. (Showed a suspicious smile) Thankfully, I have other plans on my way out. It'll no longer be about the games anymore…but it's gonna be personal business, with friends, and your FORMULA." And this was when she started to run away, along with Eggman's elixir.

By the time we entered the living room, Sonic greeted with suspicion, "Good evening, Egg-and-Spam. Just what I thought. It was you and that bully who set up that Optimizing-Omelette scam."

"Technically, I'm working on something else, but yes, I made Optimizing-Omelette to glitchify all your games. Genius, is it not?"

"Very clever, but now you're working on something else?" The blue hedgehog took a closer look at Eggman's computer's screen with a loading bar in front of a glowing silhouette of Nominatus. "You're bringing Nominatus back!?" he screamed. "He was the one who tried to destroy every living thing in the planet!"

"Psst, this is nothing personal, hog. But after some special additional coding to his digital remains, he'll be under Terra's control in which he'll be committing nothing more than typical crimes, like robbing banks and such, for her. Trust me, I didn't want to do this. She forced me to make a new malware like this, with the threat of choking me to death!"

As I turned furious, I got into his large computer and banged the keyboard, which activated a "kill switch" to put the progress to an end.

"Tails, what have you DONE!? You know, it was bad enough that you wouldn't give me your copy of Blades of the Rebellion. Do you know exactly what's she going to do, once she finds out this?"

"By showing what I am capable of, I have a particular way to deal with her, and you, too. Now, reverse all those glitches that Optimizing-Omelette gave to all those computer games."

"Well, here's the thing; I know to create specialized malware, but I don't know how to counteract them."

"Then let me do it myself. It looks like your keyboard's got those exclusive symbols used for both your game-killing malware and advertising program that bully used to make those obnoxious ads." And so I spent a long time developing a cure for the virus, repeatedly tapping symbol after symbol on the black buttonless keyboard, quickly typing code after code on the big black screen. When I was almost finished, I was interrupted by a video call by Terra, in which she found out what I've done in the last half-hour. Much to a shock, I also discovered what she looked like now, after recovering from her injuries from that fire.

"How in tarnation did you get here?" She snarled.

"Well, we thought that Eggman was responsible for helping you, so we came here to stop that ploy of yours."

"Wait, what about that malware that'll bring Nominatus back?"

"It has been cancelled, whether you like it or not!"

 _"_ _You puny little runt! Once I find you in person, I'll cut off your two tails to turn them into neckties, dissect your organs for me to cook for dinner, ritually drink your fluid, skin you to make myself a nice fur coat, and then hang your dead head up on a wall, all with the help of a trusty dagger. I'm dead serious, so better say your prayers while you're still alive. Oh, and would you like to see your old friends? You know, the ones I just took from you?"_

She then showed me my crew, Fingers, Tim and Tom Two-Heads, Mic, and Willabelle, all locked up in one of Eggman's laser cages and surrounded by his robots: Burnbot (initially didn't burn fire), Anti-Fire Bot (did the exact opposite of what firefighters do, despite its appearance), Giant Robot (which was once fueled by Sonic running with those Power-Absorbant Insoles), Mega, Drill Bot (when Eggman tried to make a movie), Cowbot (slow, but deadly), and Decimator Bot (the one that tried to kidnap Zooey).

"Hey, that's my cage!" exclaimed Eggman, with his palms on his cheeks. "And those are my robots, too!"

However, in a humorous tone, all of the robots unexpectedly short-circuited and "fainted" with swirly eyes, for unknown reasons.

 _"_ _Dang it!"_ She threw a tantrum by jumping up and down, in which her ground rumbled. _"I knew I should've charged them robots when I had the chance!"_ Soon, as she began to think of something else, _"No problem, actually, because I have a method to end your friend's lives just as quick. You see the collars they're wearing? (brought a remote) Once I push the button, they're history."_

"Those are my shock collars as well!" exclaimed Eggman once more. "Though I couldn't figure out when to use those anyway."

I remained calm. "Do not hurt them."

Terra continued, _"You can meet me at the road of Unnamed Village and save your friends, Tails. But by then, it'll be between you and me ONLY, with more conditions that I will let you know once you come here."_

"It'll be over before you know it, Terra," I announced in a very stern tone. "This will be the last time you terrorize my life and everyone else's, all for good. I have noticed that in the news, you've been recognized as a "crazy cybercriminal, and it'll only be a matter a time before we bring you the complete attention you deserve, and not the good kind. If you really want to be worth something, do some good for a change, instead of making people look bad or weak. Other than that, this has been a war you won't win. Even if you frame me and take away Zooey from me, kidnap my friends, or destroy the game which we, Freakware, have worked hard on for years, I won't step down without this fight!"

"We will see. This ain't about your dumb video game no more, this is personal business now!" And that marked the end of Terra's video call.

However, before I left I alone, Eggman called for me for a talk. "Wait! Tails, before you leave, there is something noteworthy that I want you to know about Terra, as I seriously REGRET working with her now."

"What about her?" I asked.


	10. The Showdown

The doctor explained, "For a start, she hasn't always been this powerful. In fact, she used to be a victim of bullying, just like you. During then, she was actually a good girl with a huge imagination."

"Wait, why?"

"Well, let's just say that unlike all the other raccoon dogs, she has been born with incurable gigantism and myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy, or rapid muscle growth disorder, which clearly explains her huge appearance. During her childhood, when her original name was 'Tan Tan,' everyone, even her own kind, and especially her parents, were incredibly cruel to her. They used to call her offensive allegations toward what she couldn't control and later, made fun of her hand-drawn comics based on some video games she loved dearly."

"She drew comics based on her favorite video games?"

"She did. In order to keep her mind off of her abnormalities, she became a passionate hardcore gamer who played her favorites for hours everyday, and therefore draw comic strips (and later took photos of herself cosplaying) to attempt to honor those games, even though they were of 'poor quality'. Consequently, when her parents discovered her works, their reactions were so negative that they decided let their neighbors expose them to the internet and then dispose them in a river. In response, Terra had gotten so humiliated and heartbroken that she decided to make a peaceful speech for them, regarding how they all treated her and how they should've been civil towards her. As the problem was never settled, the real war began, between her, who then turned bad, and every single bully in her entire home place, whether it was online, or real life. In the internet, she created a total of over 50 accounts, whether it would be in a video website, an art website, or a social network, either to get her back on her trolls' accounts by bashing their works, or to comfort herself from getting picked on, like if she had so many friends."

What about the real world?" I asked.

While Orbot played suspenseful music on a piano, Eggman continued, "In the real world, there were others who attempted to give her mandatory therapy, but no matter what, they couldn't stop her, who looked for a way to make herself even stronger than she already was; in addition to endless and intense workouts, for several years, every day, week, month at the very least, she herself some concoction made by strange herbs, fruits, spices, and experimental medications stolen from my old lab. Drinking it gave her side effects, like a more sickly appearance, insanity, departure from reality, extreme anger disorders, and worsened antisocial behavior, but it also granted her massively enhanced strength, endurance, and durability. When it was finally the time, she had a massive 1-vs-all street fight against all those bullies that had picked on her for years. There was a series of brutal animal-like attacks, whether it'd be mauling, scratching, biting, or bone-crushing. And, did you know what happened to her bully-turned-victims in the end? ...She ate them all."

Sonic's jaw dropped. "She was a cannibal? Oh, heck no. You're lying."

"Footage of the fight can be seen in an satirical encyclopedia focusing on her (but made without her permission)...but I won't show you since it's overwhelmingly graphic," Eggman gulped. "Since then, 'Tan Tan' changed her identity to her current and then lived in a foster home, followed by the first day high school."

"Wow…" I gasped.

"One more thing: for the record, when she lived here, she wanted to cage fight with one of my robots, Metal Sonic. So she forced me to let her, and I did, and as a result of her berserker strength and hectic mauling combined, (sniffled) Metal was a goner." Then, he show us a small shard of the blue robot's body. "Here's what's left of him. I'm planning on rebuilding him, though the second time wouldn't be the same. Anyway, Tails, go see Terra if you must. But be careful; even though the effects of her formula have gradually declined after the fire, she's still very strong. But like what Scion said in your game, 'size has nothing to do with strength.'"

On the following night, I felt like I was ready to encounter that tanuki bully, alone or not; I wore a green hood to pay homage to Horns the Owl, I put on my goggles, got my monkey wrench that I intended to use as a weapon and brought all of my best portable gadgets in my belt, especially my Healing Stick, to heal me during the match, and my Hyper Exo Manifier 2.0, with highly improved durability (since the first one was fragile) and freezing power (this time through ice). By the time I arrived at Unnamed Village, Terra faced me with a very intimidating look.

"Tails!" cried Willabelle, holding on the cages' laser bars. "Please be careful! You could get yourself hurt!"

"Willabelle, you know that this is the only way to save you guys," I replied bravely.

"Tails," Terra said, "It's been nearly seven years since we've last seen each other in person."

"And after nearly seven years," I replied coldly, "you haven't changed one bit."

"Neither have your two tails, freak."

"So, how did you find my friends? Answer me, now!"

"To have you pay for what you've taken from me, I hacked into their private info on Talk-a-Lot, in which I decided to look for them and take them away from you without warning. You deserved it."

"Terra, we can settle this peacefully, or we'll have to do it the hard way. Either you move on, once you make up for all the damage you've done to me, my friends, and especially my game and Zooey, or I can make you get your smelly butt out of here."

"Not only have ya stolen my popularity with your games, but you also stole Zooey, my former girlfriend, from me!

"You were being a jerk to her, which was why she left you. But I guess you would've acted better if YOU weren't bullied before then."

"Huh, what in tarnation are you talkin' about?"

"Haven't all your bullies including your own type picked on you for being different from others?"

"You don't know nothin' about growin' so big that you turn out to be completely different from others!"

"Actually, it's kind of like how no one accepted me in the first place, all because of my twin tails. Eventually, when I proved my potential, that was when people began to accept me. As for you, however, you did embrace yourself and your abnormalities, but all for the wrong purposes. As much as getting bullied is terrible, it is not an excuse to become an even bigger bully in return! Either we could've prevented this in the first place, or you could've chosen to continue being a nice girl by settling with others the proper way."

"No, even if I was good, no one gonna like me! Now why are we talkin' 'bout this while we should've begun now!?"

"That shouldn't be a problem." I pointed my Hyper Exo Manifier at her. "It'll only take a few seconds before this gadget freezes you."

Terra showed me her remote. "But I can push the button dadgum quicker, where ya say goodbye to your friends! Just when did I say y'are allowed to use any weapons in this here hand-to-hand fight? Dispose every one of them, NOW!"

"Tails," convinced Fingers, "Just do exactly as he says. There is no other choice."

Out of distress, I put down all of my gadgets and left them behind, while my Healing Stick continuously rolled far away from me. As I took a deep breath, "Alright, I'll fight for my friends, fair and square."

"That's right."

And the fight began when Terra punched me right in the face, so firmly that I was sent flying. _POW-WHOOSH!_ Despite a blackened eye, I got back up and returned by spinning my tails and then brought multiple punches in return _(BOP, BOP, BOP…)_ , though they inflicted less damage than what she gave me. Next, she used her huge claws _(SLING)_ to quickly scratch my stomach, leaving some furless scars on it. Nevertheless, I spun into a ball and did a high pitch-sounding Spin Attack to hit her three times. _PEW, PEW, PEW!_ However, she successfully blocked those hits with her big bare arms. Then, she brutally kicked me in my thin legs three times _(POW, POW, POW)_ , in which the third time sent me flying again, but this time, far, far away. _WHOOOOOOSH!_

"Y'are weak as a sick old dog, Fox Boy!" she barked. "Just like your lame game full of playable freaks! I knew dipwads like you ain't got no guts to get me real good!"

Sweating like a prostrate pig, and huffing like a weakened wolf, I got up and slowly limped back to her. "Okay, you're really strong."

Meanwhile, Sonic ran back to his friends to warn everyone about my fight with Terra. "Guys, you wouldn't believe this. Tails is battling with that bully who started everything!"

Without anyone noticing, Zooey stuffed her purse with pool balls and ran off to save me.

"He is doing WHAT!?" yipped Amy. "He's going to get really hurt real soon!"

"Ironically, if we try to save him, Terra will push the remote, and his friends will get shocked to death, literally."

"What do we do? We can't just leave him vulnerable to her!"

"Hmm, I think we'll play it in stealth mode and save his friends without her knowing. And then, we'll defeat Terra and end her scheme once and for all. With style."

"What do you mean by 'with style?'" asked Knuckles, scratching his head. "Are you referring to clothes, or a way of doing, um, uh, stuff?"

Sonic grinned and rubbed his hands. "Both."

"Beating her up would've been easier, but whatever. This is for Tails, ri-i-ight?"

In the meantime, after getting mauled, I got covered in a good amount of sweat, bruises, lumps, and scars all over my body. My breath was also running out after using up my energy to fight. As for Terra, she remained pumped up, despite having minor wounds here and there. "Fox Boy, just give it up, for Pete's sake," she laughed. "I knew you'd only punch and kick like a gun shooting cotton balls at me. You're as pathetic as a sick coyote cub that hasn't eaten for weeks! Face it, you'll never prove yourself worthy as Sonic the Hedgehog, EVER!"

"Shut up and go eat a prickly cactus, filthy Fukushū!" cried the confined Tim.

"Tim!" whispered Tom, covering his counterpart head's mouth. "You're going to get us in trouble!"

Once I heard Terra's last phrase, regarding Sonic, I started to bubble up, my teeth were closed real tight, my fists started shaking like motors, my breaths turned more rapid, and my face turned red! Immediately, I unleashed all my anger and delivered one great punch in her face, inflicting a great deal of damage. Then, I brutally hit him several times with my spinning two tails, and then brought a big amount of heavy Spin Attacks. _Bam, BAM, BAM…BAM, BAM, BAAAM!_ As a result, my encaged crew were amazed of all the anger I used to take on her.

Unfortunately, this was when the noticeably bruised Terra got filled up with rage. "Ya don't know when to QUIT no more, do ya!?" She began clench her fist so hard, that it shook harder than any engine I have ever known. "With my most powerful punch, I AM-A KILL YOU RIGHT HERE IN THIS ROAD, RIGHT NOW! AND I MEAN, NOW, NOW, NO-O-OW!" But right before she punched me, an angry Zooey was unexpectedly behind her, where she forcefully spun her purse, now heavy as bricks, and threw it with all of her strength, in which it hit her right in the head. _B-A-A-A-NG!_ After the unconscious bully fell down on her abdomen, I took the opportunity turn off the laser cage (with the remote Terra stole from Eggman) trapping my crew and remove their collars, while the young vixen took a good look of my glaring injuries.

"Tails," she said softly, "You don't look too good."

"I'm okay, Zooey," I replied quietly. "Terra won't be waking up for a while, so thank you for saving me."

"There's something that I need to tell you; for the way I avoided you like that, I realized that it wasn't so just, for me and you; it's only because I've been taking romance very seriously in which I wanted everything to be perfect; I can't bear to feel the pain of being left out after having a few past boyfriends, each who left me too soon. But then, I've learned that I need to be more considerate to others' situations and feelings, even if it means major self-reliance."

I looked down. "And I'm sorry too, Zooey, for prioritizing tasks over you and others all the time; especially when I let my game, Blades of the Rebellion get into my head, far too much than it should, whether it'd be post-game content, dealing with a deranged hater/troll, or addressing fan complaints towards bugs I haven't even caused. With that said, not only have I failed to spend consistent time with you, but I also didn't go to my concert to play with Sonic and Knuckles either; you and the two have really counted on me, until now."

"You know," added Willabelle, "This kind of reminds me of the time when I haven't spent a lot of time with Chris T., who's my younger boyfriend who he enjoys a lot of quality time being a 'villain' with Dave the Intern. One time, I simply decided that he would've been better off without me, since I didn't have intentions of being like him; so I spent time doing other things like yoga or anything involving my flexibility. After some time, I regretted my decision when I realized that he had actually been looking for me with the help of his blue friend, in hopes of getting our relationship right. In the end, the Chris and I kissed, hugged, and made up by pretending to be evil together. Today, he is still as weird as Dave, but as always, he still loves me dearly. So my point is, Tails and Zooey, even in a deep relationship, you don't have to totally accept or love people for what they like to do, just who they are."

Soon, Zooey began to shed teardrops, ran towards me, and we both hugged tightly. "I'm sorry for being hard on you in the first place," she weeped. "And thank you for the necklace you sent me!"

"And from on, I'll spend more with you without anymore interruptions for good," I sobbed in return. "Because as I know, I love you always."

"(sniffled) I love you, too."

While we weren't looking, Terra slowly opened her eyes, weakly got back up, and brought up an elixir, the same one created by Eggman. "No, NO, NO-O-O!" she roared. "This isn't how it's supposed to end! NOW, THE REAL BATTLE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!" And so she drank every last drop of the formula. As a start, she gained a nasty tummy ache, but then, we noticed that she began to glow brighter than the moon and slowly turned scarier. First, her fur began recovering from her scars and burns, but turned long, prickly as fur tree leaves, and pale as salt. Her muscles individually grew like a balloon being overly inflated with hydrogen. Jagged dinosaur spikes came out her back, legs, tail, arms and head. Her claws blackened and became sharper and larger. And her whole face turned much uglier, with her fangs becoming longer, sharper, and sturdier than daggers, her ears getting jagged and extended, her nose and snout turning "puffy," and her eyes now demonic as an oni's and red as rotten tomatoes. Then, she felt flat on the floor and grew very slowly at first, but when her heart start kept beating harder than a bass drum and faster than a rabbit stomping his foot, her rate of growth boomed, expanding quicker than a pufferfish and causing the ground to rumble harder than Eggman's giant robots stomping, until her shadow covered three and a half houses. In the end, she became what defined her true nature: an overwhelmingly freakish, powerful, 35-foot mad mass murderer!

"Holy SMOKES!" exclaimed a jaw-dropping Mic, staring up. "We didn't see this one coming!"

"Guys, run, now," I firmly advised to my crew.

And so we all ran, but while my crew managed to run for safety, the monster Terra quickly grabbed me and Zooey with her enlarged bare hands. "YOU TWO AIN'T GOIN' NO-O-O-W-H-E-E-E-E-ERE!" she bellowed in rage, emitting a great heap of vibration.

"Tails!" cried Zooey.

"Terra, please, put us down!" I ordered.

"NO, I'M GRUBBIN' FOR YOU HERE FOX CASSEROLE, AND Y'ALL CAN'T STOP ME NOW!"

"Terra!" shouted Sonic's voice. "You heard Tails, put him and Zooey down! You mess with our best buds, you mess with ALL of us!"

Zooey and I looked below, and much to my relief, there came Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Sticks in their trademark fighting stances. What surprised me, however, as that they wore familiar clothes; Sonic was wearing a ninja belt and a scarf to cover his mouth, Amy wore metal armor and a pigtail, Knuckles wore a horned hat and kilt, and Sticks wore a bandana on her head and a leaf eyepatch, similar to Bonnie Bones the monkey. So what did their costumes remind me of exactly? It was hard to remember after my glaring head injuries.

"Y'ALL GONNA GET MASHED INTO MUSH!" roared Terra.

And so the deadly battle between my four friends and the demonic giant began with Sonic swiftly Spin Dashing to the beast _(VROOOM)_ , rotating in circles around her, and running a spiral on her big, shivering body until he reached her head, where he struck her with his trusty homing attack. _POW!_

The Monster Terra fought back by roaring out supernaturally mighty soundwaves to knock him down to the ground. _"R-A-A-A-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-R!"_

"Sticks," ordered Sonic, getting up, "Now's your cue!"

While Sonic resumed fighting, Sticks the Badger began with her battle cry. "A-A-A-R-R-R-G-G-G-H!" Next, she threw her trusty boomerang at the beast's hands, to attempt to release me and Zooey, but failed, since they were too rugged. So, instead of the boomerang, she brought out and cocked a strange gun, resembling a hollowed-out log with a moderately thick twig sticking out of it. "I made this myself for three days! Be alarmed; it shoots coconuts!" Indeed did she fire cannonball-like coconuts at her _(Boom, boom, boom, boom, BOOM!)_ , which managed to hurt the monster pretty good. "I've got so much power. You can't eliminate me, because I am in-elimini... in-elemen... in-eliminatate... " Right before she could finish, the beast performed a devastating red shockwave stomp and knocked out the poor badger.

Meanwhile, to rescue me and Zooey, Amy used her great agility to leap from Terra's right foot to left knee to right hand first, which she tried to pound with her Piko Piko Hammer to get me released. _POW!_ But it was still no use, and Terra violently shook her off his hand, causing her to fall down, though she landed perfectly on her feet while sliding. After that, she repeated her same actions, but this time, she landed on the beast's left hand, which she hit with her mallet TWICE as hard (POWWW!), thus successfully releasing Zooey.

"GRRR! FRACK YA, FOR STEALING MY GIRLFRIEND!" snarled Terra.

When Zooey was falling down screaming, the pink hedgehog cried, "Knuckles! Catch her!"

After throwing a tree at Terra, the red echidna found Zooey in the air and used his red, serrated, rope-like Enerbeam to catch her and reel her in like a fish until she landed safely on his arms. "I got you, Zooey." He winked his right eye. "After all, I'd do anything for a girl like you."

"But what about Tails!?" She asked anxiously.

Eventually, an injured Sonic, along with Amy, and Sticks, stood on their knees, taking heavy breaths. "It's no use," wheezed the blue hedgehog, "She's just too powerful for us to handle!"

"We aren't fighting a giant robot this time," Amy huffed, holding on to her hammer to stay up. "Terra's FAR worse than that!"

"YA FOUR ARE ALL FRACKIN' PATHETIC L'IL DIPWADS!" roared Terra, still holding me, and suffering from little injury. "FOR THE WHOLE FRACKIN' TIME, Y'ALL THOUGHT YOU COULD DEFEAT ME AND SAVE FRACKIN' FOX BOY, BUT THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE WINNER IN THIS DANG FIGHT, AND THAT'LL BE ME, AND ONLY ME!"

"Man, you're one foul-mouthed monster," Sonic pointed out.

Eventually, what I realized was that this battle was a clear parallel to the Robogre fight scene in the trailer of Blades of the Rebellion, especially with what my friends were wearing. Sonic represented Scion the cheetah, with his speed, Amy symbolized Amoroso the wolfdog, with her agility and courage, Knuckles shared some similarities with Nucleus the grolar bear, like strength and love for girls, Sticks was Bonnie Bones the monkey, due to her knack of hunting as well as her new coconut gun she built, and finally, Terra was definitely the enormous Robogre, with a little bit of the power-hungry oni Fukushū! And now you know how I got my inspiration for the playable characters, though it's vice versa for the boss.

Later, all of a sudden, behind us was a huge crowd of my fans, bringing various weapons like those commercial Enerbeams, my invented "Enerbeam Hookshots" with pointed heads, pitchforks, etc. and marching towards the great white beast. Their leaders were none other than an angry Willabelle, and surprisingly, Eggman, both who had successfully convinced all of them to aid me and my friends, once and for all. With that said, I was relieved with the fact that they still have cared so much about me, despite what had happened to my game.

"So, you want to go to extreme lengths to pick on innocent individuals, Terra?" shouted the human girl. "Then we'll all go to extreme lengths to bring you DOWN, for Tails and Freakware!"

"YOU!" roared Terra, pointing at her. "If burnin' down your sanctuary wasn't enough, I should've also destroyed ya and all of your freaks in the first place, when my old gang 'n' I had the chance! But now, I have a second chance to devour you all up, like how I grew large enough to eat my own kind for bullyin' me!"

"We'll see about that, you huge hobo!" yelled Dave the Intern. "We've bringing you something good for picking on our most favorite game developer of all time!"

And then the Gogoba chinchillas from crowd threw dozens of various trash, torches, and pitchforks at her, who then chased after them running through almost the whole village. "I'm gonna skin y'all and use your skin to make boots, ya tiny twerps!" she growled, swishing away the projectiles. What she didn't know was that from a distance, some of them have planned a strategy.

"Butwearejusttoosmalltobemadeintobootsyoursizeandyoulackthetoolstoskinallofus!" screamed the sprinting Gogoba Chief fast-paced. "Ahhhh!"

Meanwhile...

"Is the energy rope ready?" asked Perci the bandicoot.

"Pulling it as tight as possible," replied Mike the ox, heaving and sweating. "Couldn't we tie this to a tree?"

"Like it there is one nearby," groaned Salty the hippo, pulling the long rope as well.

The bandicoot warned the bystanders, "Everyone, stand back! Terra is coming towards us before you know it!"

After everyone obeyed, the Gogobas who threw their weapons arrived, but split up and hid in opposing areas whereas the giant monster continued running between their actual directions. "WHERE ARE YOU PIPSQUEAKS? YOU CAN HIDE, BUT YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!" Afterwards, while not paying attention, Terra tripped over the strong two's Enerbeam and slowly fell down like a chopped-down tree, causing the ground to shake. As a result, I was released from her giant hand, which gave me an opportunity to find my freezing ray to finish her off.

"Now, get your ropes ready!" ordered Perci.

Similar to a scene in the book Gulliver's Travels, the villagers shot their pointy, "spring loaded," and energy-based ropes over Terra to tie her down, with the spearheads attaching firmly to the ground, in which she was unable to break free despite her brute strength. "I can't get up!" she moaned, attempting to jerk off the tethers. "Whoever's sellin' these oughta be creamed to death!"

"That would be me," I answered, flying above her head. "I invented these ropes to restrain anything giant like you! Now, for the record, you learn that when it comes to game making, copyright infringement especially for hurting others is a crime, so the next time you make another game, use your own resources from now on." Then, I brought my Magnifier and shot a cyan beam to freeze her hideous head in pure ice, complementing what would happen next, as I called, "Knuckles, finish her off!"

"You bet I will!" replied Knuckles, jumping off a cliff and then dive bombing in the air like a fiery meteor. "I knew you were that _pepper-spraying robot_ for the whole time," he indicated to Terra. Finally, he delivered an overwhelmingly powerful strike Terra's frozen and enfeebled head and defeat her once and for all. _BOOOOOM!_

Eventually Sonic, Amy and Sticks showed up, and Zooey got a hold of my healing rod, unharmed even though I've accidently forgotten about it. Once she pulled its trigger to heal me, Knuckles, and the rest of my team with its blue aura, we fully recovered in the blink of an eye, and the six of us all gave fives, like in the end of my game's trailer.

"Great work, guys," complemented Sonic. "With the help of Tails' still-loyal fans, it looks like there's no one, not even a cruel overgrown mutant, to stop Team Sonic after all!"

The big red echidna argued, "You mean, Team Knuckles, or should I say Team Nucleus. After all, I clearly inspired him, who was the CAPTAIN in Blades of the Rebellion. Plus, I did do the finishing blow."

The blue buddy sighed, "Alright, Knux, you win...for tonight."

While my team and all the villagers/my fans were celebrating their victory, I found Eggman at a bench, moping about not getting my game he wanted. For some reason, I actually felt kinda bad for him, so I decided to give him a free copy of BotR, especially after he and Willabelle gathered my fans. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is for you, Dr. Eggman. I assume that you'll go back to being evil on the next day, but after you once admitted affection and later redeemed yourself tonight, this is what you're earning."

He gasped, "Why, thank you so much, Tails, it's been so long now! And after getting sick of helping someone's game with stolen works, I decided that this one should be much better for me. After all, I still got those feelings for you and Freakware's hard work." And then, he began kissing the hardcover, much to my mild embarrassment.


	11. The Legacy

After six long weeks have passed since the massive battle with Terra, followed by the restoration of Blades of the Rebellion and every other computer game (as all gamers needed to do was to delete Optimizing Omelette, apparently without my antidote), there came the annual Most Dangerous Game Awards ceremony, hosted by none other than Mayor Fink. During this event, game developers were given awards for achieving the best in a category for their games, whether AAA or indie. Like in those Awardy Awards (Which Sticks won long ago), we were all to wear formal clothes, even us developers:

For my current friends outside the red carpet, Sonic, wore a penguin-like tuxedo and bow tie of his own color, Amy wore a purple strapless derby dress with a sparkly texture, long white gloves, pink bracelets, and red low-heeled shoes, and Sticks wore a modified version of her black one-shoulder dress (After she had destroyed her first attire from her first ceremony) with similar white hemlines and black medium-heeled shoes, but this time, with the addition of platinum tiger stripes, to go with her wild personality. But where was Knuckles? He said that he had a job…

As for my girlfriend Zooey, she wore the same rainbow necklace I gave her, as well as a similarly colorful dress full of feathers, beads and glitter, upon her love towards rainbows.

And for me and my crew of Freakware, walking on the carpet, Willabelle wore a complex, cream-colored kimono-like dress, with wide sleeves, flowers, hearts bow ties, and layers of different colors (Sort of forgot what colors they were...), Mic was portrayed as a Welsh guard with that funny tall and fluffy black hat, Tim and Tom Two-Heads simply wore neckties (green for Tim, orange for Tom), Fingers was wearing a brown tuxedo he referred as a "monkey suit" (No jokes about it, please), and finally, I wore a gold Stewart Hughes Diamond Edition (No, I'm not kidding, I really did buy it from a luxury store, with a massive "hero's discount!"), for being the guest of honor.

"Hold it!" ordered Knuckles (wearing the same tuxedo Sonic wore and his security badge, for the third time), inspecting me and my crew with his metal-detecting wand. After a half a minute, he declared, "You're all clean! Just making sure that no one's bringing pepper spray or a potion turning people into monsters."

While my crew chuckled, I was left a little annoyed. "I hope not." And then we continued walking, with my averting eyes.

Throughout the ceremony, each of the awards, whether they were for best visuals, indie, RPG, platformer, action, etc., were given to different games. For our game, while it was only nominated for the categories mentioned above, it received a certain award I haven't expected at all…

"And finally, it's what you've been waiting for," announced Mayor Fink, followed by a suspenseful drumroll. "This final award, for 'Game of the Year,' shall go to...BLADES OF THE REBELLION, produced by Freakware!"

While epic orchestra played, the whole audience gave a round of huge applause whereas my development team and I frolicked up the red stairs to the fancy stage where the mayor gave us the grand trophy, revealed to have miniature statuettes of me and my crew.

Fink shook all of our hands. "Congratulations, Freakware! You've came all the way to earn this!" Then, he pointed out to me, "And Tails, is there something you'd like to say about your part-time job of game making?"

"Oh, absolutely," I answered enthusiastically. So I announced on the microphone, "My and crew and I would like to thank everyone for bringing all of their support throughout time. We give grace to our all of our fans for supporting our fundraiser, building a loyal fandom, and helping us stop a crazy bully who wanted to destroy our precious dreams. I give grace to my crew for helping me cope with my childhood and make our game promoting equality among pals of different shapes and sizes. And last, but not least, we give grace to my very best friends, Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, and Sticks the Badger, for being the vital inspirations for all the playable characters, Scion, Amoroso, Nucleus, and Bonnie Bones." I chuckled playfully, "And then, I am the inspiration of Horns…"

The audience began to laugh as well, with Knuckles guffawing until his midsection hurt.

Fingers added, "It was quite a pleasure fulfilling Tails' dream by helping out with this of magnificent game of ours. Despite plenty of challenges we have been through, like sabotage by a cybercriminal, it was all worth it in the end."

Mayor Fink continued, "And let's hear it for Tails and his crew! They have come all the way to earn this prestige, and I just hope they continue their part-time career by creating another masterpiece like BotR one day!"

Everyone clapped once more, as Freakware and I bowed, with the trophy in my hands. After years of our hard work, this annual game award ceremony was indeed one of my happiest days of my life, without a doubt.

And to make the day even sweeter, Sonic, Knuckles and I brought our instruments and reunited as Dude-itude; the mayor had assigned us to play a tribute song in the end of the gathering, which was called "Endless Possibility," where I was the lead singer:

[...]

 _But how will I know when I get there?_

 _And how will I know when to leave?_

 _We've all gotta start from somewhere_

 _And it's right there for me_

 _The possibilities are never ending_

 _I see it, I see it, and now it's all within my reach (Endless Possibility)_

 _I see it, I see it now, it's always been inside of me (And now I feel so free)_

 _Endless Possibility_

[...]

After the ceremony, I decided to have my crew meet my friends for the first (proper) time, so we did so outside, starting with smiles.

"It's so nice to see you all!" greeted Willabelle, shaking all my friends' hands. "So how long have each of you been friends with Tails?"

"Pretty long," answered Sonic, "Though I've been with him the longest. Together, though, we've been through lots of adventures, whether it involved a giant cyborg snake, or using fire and ice to defeat a robot using magnets."

"Interesting! You know, I'm starting to remember something; weren't you one who rescued Tails from Terra's gang?"

"Yep, indeed that I saved him from those goons; they weren't much of a match for me."

"And Sonic, thank you so much for taking good care of him when you had the chance," complemented Fingers. "He was a great kid who deserved much better from everyone else."

"Say, what ever happened to Terra?" asked Mic. "She might have been a terrible person recently, but I'm beginning to think that she would've lived a decent life if only if people didn't pick on her at some point.

"After we defeated her," answered Amy, "Eggman used an antidote to revert her back into her old self, but since the fight, she wasn't the same anymore; it's been said that as all of her accounts in the whole internet were deactivated, she stopped using the computer anymore, before being sent to a prison where she received special therapy. Then, I heard that sometime later, she somehow managed to break free, and then disappear, never to be seen anywhere again, despite deliberate investigation by the best detectives around. Maybe she died, maybe she changed her identity, who knows? Everything has been serene so far, but since her disappearance, many of us have learned a valuable lesson, that negativity against an 'abnormal' person can hurt really bad, whether it's picking on them, or getting back at them."

The human girl replied with a smile, "Thankfully, since the incident, we've got all of those anti-bullying and equality-supporting programs on the rise! And best of all, I received a letter from Mayor Fink that Foreman Fred and his crew will be rebuilding Oddity Oasis, and that I'll be able to gather and support all the good mutants again, once it's finished."

"If they come to our planet, will aliens be welcome in your new sanctuary, Willabelle?" asked Sticks.

She giggled. "Yes, Sticks. Even aliens are welcome to stay, if they want to come, of course."

After the meeting, everyone gave each other hugs before my two groups' farewells.

Despite the ceremony, my crew and I remembered that we once agreed that game development would just be one-time since The Odd Guardians, and that this minor career turned out to be extremely risky, so we had no plans of making another full-pledged game. Which is why as of today, Freakware is disbanded until further notice. But before then, we took our time to make the post-game DLC as exactly planned, though our breaks became extended for various reasons.

One particular reason was so that I would be able to spend more time with Zooey, to make up for all of those abrupt-ending dates before then. Specifically, the two of us had our latest date on a gondola rowed by Tim and Tom Two-Heads, on a large river before Seaside Coast.

"Liking the view, you two?" asked Tim.

"Just take a nice look of all the beautiful trees, rocks and flowers around you two," added Tom.

"Oh, we definitely like this scenery!" I answered while resting my arms. "Just don't row too fast, you two, alright?"

"With a fine weather and setting, this is definitely a romantic idea, Tim and Tom," complemented Zooey. "And now the two of us can enjoy this time together…"

"...Without any interruption," I added. Then, the two of us kissed.

"While you keep rowing, Tom," said Tim, pulling out a camera, "I will be a taking a good picture of the two, with their names on it."

And so during our kiss, a flash from the camera came towards us.

Almost a month after the date, the downloadable content for my game had released; it consisted of costumes for the playable characters, five new extra-hard stages with new music, and especially a new playable character, named Stanislav, who paid indirect homage to Larry the Liger from The Odd Guardians.

That newcomer was the ruby-striped, dark purple metal-furred liger bogatyr (Russian warrior)/warlock that wore sleek, dark red-violet armor and a hood and had very tall, massive and muscular structure, long and massive claws and fangs, a groomy mane resembling upward hedgehog quills, and a tail with a tuft resembling a candle flame.

According to the story expansion, Stanislav was a long-time rival to Scion after the day he first laid his eyes on him. Since then, the two mighty cats competed with each other in determining who was the superior one in terms of overall attributes. Regardless of their violent rivalry, that liger was neither a villain nor a hero, but somewhere in between.

His playstyle followed an archetype of a high-risk, high-reward stealth fighter, involving a half-serrated, double-bladed shashka and brutal hand-to-hand combat, both mixed with powerful dark magic (opposing Horns' light magic). He played with an extremely high-learning curve due to complex controls requiring strict timing and specific orders of button inputs, soft or firm. But once mastered, he would demonstrate immense strength, combo-racking, speed (nearly running as fast as Scion), and versatility that actually exceeds that of Amoroso. However, to compensate for his great power, of all characters, Stanislav had the lowest HP gauge, though his self-healing ability (by holding Up) could counteract that.

During my friends' game time at my home, upon the DLC's release…

"How are the new stages and Stanislav?" I asked Sonic.

"Well, Tails," he said, while playing my game, "As your new content of your game...these are AWESOME! Despite my mixed feelings towards the costumes, I love the edgy designs and extra challenge of these new stages, as well as this new character, who sort of reminds me of a _dark hedgehog_ who just made a video focusing on your DLC."

"What _dark hedgehog_ , Sonic?" asked Amy.

Indeed did the new content, especially Stanislav, receive special attention from certain players, according to a live gameplay/self-recording hybrid video made by Shadow the Hedgehog, competing with an actual liger though the online multiplayer VS mode, with voice chat:

"Disgust, Animosity, Malice, Nastiness!" groused Shadow, wearing a red and white gaming headset while smashing buttons on a wireless controller. "Seriously, where's that dang fourth Crystal of Truth?"

"You mean, fourth crystal SHARD," snarled the large liger, wearing a shirt with Stanislav's face. "Man, I thought you're theUltimate Lifeform. So you should've figured it out by now, bro. Meanwhile, I'm in good standing." When he sprinted to the crystal shard first, and won the race, "Rawwr! I am… all of me, with this new character I'm playing here!"

Realizing that he lost, Shadow threw a fit of rage and breaking his controller in half with his bare hands. "DANG ME! But mark my words, I'll soon break Sonic's record of having the fastest complete speedrun! I will do whatever it takes to bring that blue rat to his knees, if it is the last thing I ever do!"

"Like, dude, this is why people call you 'Ow the Edge.' You really need anger management this minute."

Aside from that considerably embarrassing video, after our game time, Zooey came to visit us while hiding her arms. "Hi, everyone, and you too, Tails."

"Zooey!" I exclaimed. "What brings you here for today?"

"Well, since you've already confirmed that the characters from Blades of the Rebellion were inspired by your friends," she continued, revealing a big green bag, "I thought it would be nice to make you all these."

We all looked with awe, and what was inside the bag were costumes based on what my characters wore!

First, I grabbed Horns' clothes and tome. "Whoa, neat..."

Next, Sonic snatched Scion's spandex suit and katana. "It's like this is drawn to me."

Then, Knuckles took Nucleus' garments. "By the love of Thor…"

Later, Amy pulled Amoroso's metallic armor. "I don't believe it!"

And finally, Sticks swiped Bonnie's pirate coat, eyepatch, and the rest of her attire. With excitement, she said, "ARRR!"

Once we all put on these well-done costumes, the vixen asked, "So what do you guys think? It took me a while to make all of these."

"Like, this is among the best outfits we have EVER worn!" Amy squealed with joy. "Thank you so much, Zooey! You're definitely one of the best costume designer we have ever met!" And then, she hugged her, as tight as a rope's knot.

"I say we give her a 'bear' hug!" added Knuckles, before the rest of us joined in after Amy.

After giving our thanks, the five of us decided to go out to the beach and pretend play as our characters, with Zooey looking with laughter. This was, of course, was followed by Dr. Eggman sending us robots to attack us, once again...

"Pssst, nothing personal, kids!" laughed the doctor as he watched his Badniks chasing after us five. "Robots, destroy thoserebels!"

Sticks, as "Bonnie," raised her cutlass high in the air. "Avast, mateys! 'Tis the hour to sword fight them bad robots once 'n fer all!"

"One more thing," said Zooey from a distance, "I made sure that those weapons you're holding are actually real, in case a real fight like this happens."

Sonic smiled. "Sweet! Now, Scion says, we must learn to adapt if we want survive the unfitting!" And he ran off to use his katana to slice the Motobugs in half, even though this kind of experience was quite young.

Amy/'Amoroso' charged with her sword and cried in a British accent, "Let us fight these bloody robots together!"

Knuckles/'Nucleus the Noble' held his flail-axe hybrid and replied, "Aye, it's clobbering time!"

As for me, I discovered that my tome was implanted with some old gadgets like a cloaking device and a "digital bomb/projectile container" I gave to Zooey, but it turned out that my aerial attacks that I've recently been training were just enough to take down Eggman's robots; my first one was a shuttle loop towards the Bee Bots. SWOOP!

Sonic- I mean, "Scion" (Sorry!), gave me a thumbs up. "Nice one, Horns!"

During bedtime, I had a third dream involving Blades of the Rebellion, but this time, a positive one. In that dream, everything was brought back to normal, as proven when I saw myself in the center of Amoroso's beautiful throne room where all the villagers from all the realms and the main characters kneeling before me, though the wolfdog was the one placing a small crown on my head.

"Thank you, Tails," said Amoroso, "Your quest is over. All your kingdoms are now saved."

"But I didn't do much, actually," I laughed nervously. "All I did was-"

"Nonsense!" interrupted Nucleus. "Your role might have been a wee bit limited, but it was good that you stood up against that bully of yours and learned from all those mistakes you made, whether late or on time."

Scion added, "And you already know that spending time with your loved ones is considered important, not just focusing so much on us! We're just representations of your philosophy of equality."

"And thankfully, I have spent more time with Zooey and my friends, more than before," I informed. "But no matter what, you'll always be my representations of my philosophy of equality."

"By th' way," Bonnie informed, "I hear that Nominatus might be returnin', but that's just a rumor, eh?"

"Blimey!" exclaimed Horns. "Let's give Tails a break, and take him for a drink for now."

And so after the royal honoring, the six of us all walked to a bar near us, where the characters and I made a toast with frothy cream soda in mugs. And boy, were they GOOD.

 **Special Thanks To...**

In the end, I would like thank all of my interviewees for kindly adding to my story: Sonic the Hedgehog (and Knuckles), for revealing his actions and what happened to the concert, Knuckles (as well as Dave and the others), who was involved with the bully's boycott and battle, even Dr. Eggman, who provided me his story with Terra, and especially Zooey, who managed to explain my backstory when I lacked the guts to tell it before then.

Thank you all for reading, and always find your strengths of your differences, no matter how others see you.

 **THE END**


End file.
